Image: APA / EXPA / JFK
In a meeting of the election committee, it deals with finding candidates. According to the head of the election committee, Wolfgang Bartosch, it is not to be expected that a new president could already be agreed. “That would be a big surprise,” said the President of the Styrian Football Association.
For the time being, it will be explored – internal and external options are up for discussion. Windtner himself does not play a role in the race for his successor. The Upper Austrian announced last week that he would withdraw his candidacy for another term of office. The 70-year-old runs the business of the largest sports association in the country, which he has chaired since 2009, but will initially continue until the general assembly on October 17th in Velden. Then the new presidium is elected.
The actual decision, however, is already made in the election committee, which includes the presidents of the nine regional associations and Bundesliga supervisory board chief Philip Thonhauser. The committee submits an election proposal by a simple majority to the general meeting, at which the same ten full members are entitled to vote. In the run-up to the meeting in Gmunden, those involved held back with possible names.
“There is currently no name for a presidential candidate,” said Bartosch. “We are in the difficult finding phase in which many discussions are being held.” The director of the Styrian Chamber of Labor hopes that the meeting on Lake Traunsee will establish a general direction and a schedule. “It must be made clear who would be available internally and which external candidates there are realistically.” Further consultations would then have to follow soon.
“No ski association case”
The agenda for the Annual General Meeting must be sent one month in advance – ideally with a nomination. “The earlier, the better,” said Bartosch, commenting on the decision-making process. The main goal, however, is to find the “broadest possible base of approval”.
A negative example is the situation in the ÖSV before the election of Karl Schmidhofer as the successor to long-term president Peter Schröcksnadel in May or June. “We don't want to repeat such a dilemma at the ÖFB,” emphasized Bartosch. “We want to make sure that we do it in an orderly manner. I am very optimistic that it will succeed. It will not be a ski association case, I assume that.”
Unifying the Presidium does not seem to be an easy task. “There are different trends, that's clear,” said Bartosch. “There is no sign of unanimity.” He himself tries to hide his own interests and to have a balancing effect. “I don't have any favorites or preferences right now.” Upper Austria's head of the association, Gerhard Götschhofer, is his deputy in the election committee.
His compatriot Windtner has held the honorary post of ÖFB President for more than twelve years. At the beginning of 2009, the then head of Energie AG Oberösterreich prevailed against the former Rapid President Günter Kaltenbrunner with a 6: 4 vote after an original stalemate in the electoral committee. Four years later, Windtner was unanimously re-elected, and in 2017 the freestyle was already less frictionless. Some heads of state had publicly expressed criticism, in the end there was a dissenting vote from Salzburg.
