Warsaw - The newly-elected head of the Polish football federation (PZPN) faced criticism Friday that he wouldn't rid the sport of corruption.

Former Polish football great Grzegorz Lato replaced Michal Listkiewicz as president of the ailing PZPN on Thursday, promising to "clear" the sport of corruption. He also needs to fully overcome a recent spur with football's governing body FIFA.

But Lato quickly came under fire - mainly from politicians - that he would do little to change the scandal-ridden federation.

Slawomir Nowak, top aide to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said those who had ideas to improve the organization lost, and lost noticeably.

"This probably isn't the best news for Polish football," he told Radio ZET. "We'll have to wait longer for the process and cleaning up ... of Polish football."

Interior Minister Grzegorz Schetyna told the Polish Press Agency that Lato was a "step backwards" for the federation, and that PZPN should "open itself to new solutions and new people, and this isn't happening."

Elzbieta Jakubiak, head of a Parliament sports commission, said Lato won't make the needed changes as head of PZPN.

Lato said he would resign in a year if the organization made no improvement, and called on other officials to work together and make Euro 2012 "our shared success."

But Lato got his first test quickly, as reports from Ukraine came on Thursday that ripples from the world financial crisis had shut down most Ukrainian preparation work for the Euro 2012 football championship.

Ukraine and Poland were last elected to co-host Euro 2012, but have since struggled with preparations amid lack of funding and political in-fighting in each country.

Lato told Polish TV that Poland could co-host the championship with Germany, but quickly added that he believed Ukraine would overcome its problems in time.

Schetyna named Lato's statement about Germany "harmful" to the project, and that the championship was a, "mutual project and has a chance only when we treat it as such."

Lato was voted in at a gathering of 113 PZPN delegates on Thursday in Warsaw. He replaced Listkiewicz, who stepped down amid a corruption investigation.

The vote came after a recent spur between PZPN and FIFA, as Poland faced sanctions unless the government allowed the federation to elect a new leader.

The Sports Ministry recently made a motion to suspend PZPN officials in an effort to clamp down on corruption, but FIFA warned Poland would lose upcoming World Cup qualifying games and rights to Euro 2012 unless it reinstated the officials.

FIFA, which doesn't tolerate political interference in football issues, withdrew the ultimatum after a letter from the ministry that showed a "positive evolution" in the situation.

The investigation into Polish football was launched in May 2005, and so far has charged nearly 100 people including referees, officials and federation members.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Cwiakalski said on Friday there will "certainly" be more charges in the ongoing investigation that looks at years 2003 and 2004.

"There were entire rounds that were fixed in certain clubs," Cwiakalski told Polish radio. "All the matches - one by one - were decided before they took place."

Cwiakalski said he didn't have proof that PZPN was involved in the corruption, but admitted he couldn't imagine "professionals didn't know about something that took place on a large scale in their surroundings." (dpa)