Five candidates are standing for election: The IIHF's semi-annual congress will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday, September 25, 2021. The delegates meet in a hybrid format, partly on site, partly via video. The highlight of the congress is the election of the new IIHF president, for which reason DEB-President Franz Reindl is running.
First IIHF presidential election in 27 years
It has been 27 years since René Fasel, the current IIHF president, was elected. In the elections that followed, Fasel was repeatedly confirmed in office. After successful years as IIHF President, the Swiss is no longer running - instead, five new candidates are standing for election, including Franz Reindl, President of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund. V (DEB).
Franz Reindl made his way to St. Petersburg on Sunday, September 19, 2021. In the week before the election, he takes part in meetings of the IIHF Council - another chance for Reindl to convince the delegates in personal discussions. Also DEB-General Secretary Claus Gröbner and DEB-Sports director Christian Künast travels to St. Petersburg to take part in the IIHF semi-annual congress at the Corinthia Kongress Hotel and to support Franz Reindl. Next to the two of them DEBrepresentatives, PENNY DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke is on site as a delegate in the Russian metropolis.
The five candidates will be presented on Friday, September 24, 2021. Each presidential candidate has ten minutes to present their vision. The ballot follows on Saturday - in so-called hybrid voting, that is, some of the delegates vote on site in St. Petersburg, some via video.
To become president, a simple majority is enough; Nevertheless, more than one round of voting is expected, with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated from each round. In addition to Franz Reindl, Henrik Bach Nielsen (Denmark), Petr Briza (Czech Republic), Sergej Gontcharov (Belarus) and Luc Tardif (France) are running. The work for the newly elected president begins in St. Petersburg - he will meet with the newly elected Council and IIHF employees on election day to plan the next steps.