Governing Bodies
Battle for powerful IOC presidency enters final stretch
- Summary
- Seven candidates seek to replace Thomas Bach
- IOC boss is most powerful person in global sport
- Sebastian Coe highest-profile name of aspirants
- IOC has huge revenues and dominates decision-making
Only a few people around the world know the name Thomas Bach and even fewer can rattle off those of the seven candidates out to replace him in March after 12 years as president of the International Olympic Committee.
Yet despite that low profile, there is no bigger or more influential job in sport, and Bach’s successor will wield extraordinary political and financial clout across every country in the world.
When the IOC’s 100-plus members, who include billionaires, global captains of industry, federation chiefs and royalty, go to the ballot in Greece on March 20 they will be effectively deciding on the direction much of the world of sport will take for the next eight years.
World Athletics chief and former Olympic 1,500 metres champion Sebastian Coe is the biggest name of the seven candidates.
Standing against him are Zimbabwe’s sports minister and former Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry, the late former IOC president’s son Juan Antonio Samaranch, and international cycling chief David Lappartient. Completing the lineup are Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe and Olympic newcomer and multi-millionaire Johan Eliasch.
They will each present their case to replace 71-year-old Bach to the membership in Lausanne on Thursday, ahead of a final two-month push of behind-the-scenes lobbying.
RICHEST ORGANISATION
The IOC is by far the biggest and richest sports organisation in the world, dwarfing even world soccer’s ruling body FIFA, and wields its influence over almost every major international federation, new sports and national Olympic Committees.
With multi-billion revenues from sponsors and broadcasters, it is far from limited to just hosting the summer and winter Olympics. The IOC has a direct or indirect say in every major international decision on sport, whether financial, political or structural.
Sports do not only depend on Olympic funding over the Games’ four-year cycle, they are also reliant on the Olympic spotlight. New sports battle for Olympic recognition which brings a significant boost in publicity and awareness and can trigger new streams of revenue to fund growth.
In Bach’s 12 years in charge, the German lawyer also developed close ties with many political leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country hosted the 2024 Olympics, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin was the first to congratulate Bach immediately after his election back in 2013, calling minutes after the vote as his country prepared to host the Sochi Winter Olympics, with an unprecedented cost of $51 billion.
Sochi was subsequently tarnished by revelations of a massive state-backed doping system in Russia that turned into the biggest international drugs scandal in decades and forced the country’s athletes to compete as neutrals in several Olympics.
Dealing with Russia, and the issue of trans and DSD (differences in sexual development) athletes in sport, featured in most of the candidates’ manifestos. But anyone thinking they will be primarily judged on their ability to bring peace and harmony, and promote sport and health around the world, is sadly deluded.
“In this presidential election everyone votes for themselves. It is about money. The share for each stakeholder. It is no surprise that there are four federation presidents campaigning,” an international federation chief, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
“Maybe it would have been more effective if there was only one representing the federations. But everyone has their own agenda in this election.”
ROBUST FINANCES
The IOC collected revenues of $2.295 billion from its top sponsors for the period 2017-2021, the second-biggest source of income for the Olympic movement, with broadcasters paying $4.544 billion over the same period.
Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More deals are expected for both four-year periods.
The IOC says it pumps about 90% of its revenues back into sports with payments to each Olympic federation, to national Olympic committees and athletes’ scholarships among others.
Many of the smaller federations depend on that IOC contribution to get through the four years until the next Olympics.
More than half a billion dollars was split among the federations from the Tokyo Olympics, with the share from the Paris 2024 Games to top $600 million.
Top earners like athletics, gymnastics and swimming get more than $50 million. National Olympic Committees also received a total of $540 million after the Tokyo Olympics.
The IOC covers 50% of the costs of running the World Anti-Doping Agency which it helped to set up more than 25 years ago.
Much of what cash goes where, though, is down to the president’s personal Olympic vision and in a matter of weeks that extraordinary global power is about to change hands.
-Reuters
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World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
Founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris, France, FIFA began with just seven member associations — France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
From that modest beginning, the organisation has grown into the most influential sports governing body in the world, with 211 member associations spread across all continents.
Over the decades, FIFA has transformed football into a truly global phenomenon through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Club World Cup, youth tournaments, and developmental programmes aimed at growing the game worldwide.
The organisation has also witnessed remarkable milestones, including the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 13 teams in 1930 to 48 teams beginning from the 2026 edition to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
FIFA’s journey has equally reflected football’s growing influence beyond sport, with the game becoming a major tool for diplomacy, social inclusion, youth empowerment, and economic development across the world.
As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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