Johan Eliasch’s bid for a third term as president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has taken a new twist as the billionaire has emerged as a candidate not for Britain or Sweden — but for Georgia.
FIS published its list of five presidential candidates on Wednesday, April 22, ahead of the June 11 election in Belgrade, confirming that Eliasch had been nominated by the Georgian Ski Association after weeks of speculation over which national federation would back the incumbent. Both Sweden and Britain declined to put Eliasch forward as a candidate.
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The move immediately raised eyebrows across the ski world because FIS statutes require presidential candidates to hold a valid passport from the country of the federation nominating them. Eliasch, who was born in Djursholm, Sweden, and later became a British citizen, would therefore need Georgian nationality to stand legally under the federation’s own rules.
That unusual nomination has only added to the political drama surrounding an election that was already expected to revive tensions from Eliasch’s deeply divisive rise to power in 2021. Eliasch, the owner of HEAD, first won the presidency in an election many within the sport described as chaotic and deeply flawed. He stood as the sole candidate, leaving national federations with no meaningful alternative on the ballot. Rather than endorse the process, 56 of FIS’s 126 member associations walked out of the vote in protest.
Several of Europe’s most influential ski nations, including Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Croatia, later challenged the legitimacy of the election at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) before eventually dropping the case. Even so, the episode exposed a fracture between Eliasch and parts of the traditional Alpine power base that has never fully disappeared.
Since taking office, Eliasch has pursued an aggressive modernization agenda, centralizing commercial rights and pushing for a more global vision of skiing and snowboarding. Supporters have argued that the sport needs stronger leadership and a more unified commercial strategy to compete in a crowded international sports market.
Critics, however, have accused him of governing in a top-down style that has alienated long-established ski nations and concentrated too much power in the president’s office. His decision to accept Azerbaijan as the headline sponsor of FIS Freestyle events drew significant political backlash, with Kazakhstan subsequently withdrawing from hosting a Moguls World Cup.
The latest nomination appears to underline that strained relationship. Britain instead nominated its own federation chief executive, Victoria Gosling, while reports in Swedish media suggested Eliasch no longer had the support of his native federation either. That left the Georgian federation as the unexpected vehicle for his re-election campaign.
Eliasch will face four challengers in June, including Dexter Paine of the United States, Anna Harboe Falkenberg of Denmark, and Alexander Ospelt of Liechtenstein, in what is shaping up as the most contested FIS presidential race in years.
For many inside the sport, however, the question may be less about who wins than what Eliasch’s candidacy says about the current state of FIS politics. A president once elected amid a walkout is now seeking another term through the national ski federation of a country he has no connection with is a controversial move to say the least.