Bitter Battle for Control of International Ski & Snowboard Federation Enters Final Stage

8th June 2026

At stake is the very future of the body that governs elite snowsports. This Thursday a new President is due to be elected in a contest that has split FIS down the middle. Some fear the organisation may even break up. NEW

On June 11th at the FIS Congress in Budapest in Serbia 80 nations will decide who becomes president.

The current president is the Swedish-British billionaire and CEO of ski manufacturer Head, Joahn Eliasch.

He is seeking a third term, but the majority of the larger ski nations are lined up against him.

Neither Great Britain or Sweden would support his nomination so he has had to take Georgian citizenship in order to be backed by a national ski federation to be able to enter the contest.

There are accusations of financial mismanagement, anti-democratic practices and organisational irregularities.

Some see him as acting in a dictatorial way with little dialogue and a strategy of confrontation, rather than compromise.

Others regard him as taking on vested interests to turn the organisation around for the modern world.

The assets of FIS are reported to have shrunk from 130m CHF 43m CHF.

These figures have never been officially confirmed or denied.

Last week the CEO of the organisation, Urs Lehmann, resigned citing concern over the organisations finance.

There is undoubtedly partly a political motive to the move, but there are real concerns about the stability of the finances of the organisation.

We reported on the resignation earlier:

Urs Lehmann resigns as CEO of FIS

Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the USA, Canada, France and Norway have positioned themselves against Eliasch.

FIS president under attack with questions raised about finances and leadership

They are likely to support the election of Alexander Ospelt from Liechtenstein.

The head of GB Snowsport, Vikky Gosling, is also in the election to run the International Ski & Snowboard Federation.

Candidate List:

Johan Eliasch (GEO)
Anna Harboe Falkenberg (DEN)
Victoria Gosling (GBR)
Alexander Ospelt (LIE)
Dexter Paine (USA)

All candidature documents are available here.

Like all elections it will be down to numbers, and a candidate needs an absolute majority to win the election.

Skiing nations such as Switzerland have three votes, while many smaller nations only have one.

But with a total of 80 federations entitled to vote, the casting of their ballots could be decisive.

The smaller nations see Eliasch as championing their cause and giving them a voice.

If he is re-elected the major nations will be bitterly disappointed and could take further action.

At the extreme they could break away from FIS altogether.

“Johan Eliasch has lost the trust of many national associations. The financial situation of the FIS is worrying. Governance, transparency and communication are so deficient that the overall situation is unacceptable for more and more associations,” said CEO of Swiss Ski, Diego Züger, to the Swiss newspaper, Blick.

Ski athletes including Marco Odermatt and Mikaela Shiffrin have voiced concerns about how FIS has been run under Eliasch.

“We have to say that not much has gone forward in recent years. I have also learned from insiders that the FIS has developed anything but positively in terms of finances. And that’s why there’s not much left but to make a change at the top of the FIS,” said overall World Cup winner Marco Odermatt.

“Many of us athletes feel that the FIS and the current leadership have shown a significant lack of transparency,” said Mikaela Shiffrin.

There is plenty of last-minute lobbying and campaigning as the election looms this Thursday.

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