ÖFB Executive Committee meets

Bartosch is the new favorite for the presidency

Following the resignation of Klaus Mitterdorfer last week, the eagerly awaited presidium meeting of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) in Vienna tomorrow, Friday, will focus on one thing in particular - the election of a new president. For a long time, Sepp Geisler from Tyrol was the favorite, but now Wolfgang Bartosch is about to be chosen as the new ÖFB boss by the members of the presidium.

Bartosch has been president of the Styrian Football Association since 2011, was the director of the Styrian Chamber of Labor until his retirement in 2023 - and is now apparently on the verge of taking over as head of the ÖFB on an interim basis. Which would ultimately be much more in line with the direction of the largest professional association in Austria. 

(Bild: GEPA)

Despite Mitterdorfer's resignation, the structural reform that has been initiated will remain one of the central topics in the near future: "It must be brought to the fore and driven forward, and the search for personnel must be based on this," emphasized Christian Ebenbauer, one of the three Bundesliga representatives on the ÖFB presidium.

An election of Geisler, who had already declared himself the favorite for the office in the Tyrolean media landscape in recent days, would be rather counterproductive: The former criminal judge had voted against the structural reform last October and had also spoken out against the ÖFB campus in Vienna-Aspern, which is now under construction, in the past, with his opinion clearly belonging to the minority in each case. Geisler also repeatedly caused a stir by criticizing the ÖFB and its president.

Only 12 instead of 13 vote from
Following the departure of Mitterdorfer, only 12 instead of 13 members of the presidium will decide on the future "boss" on Friday from 2 pm. Upper Austria's association boss Gerhard Götschhofer will be there live via video link, while Burgenland will not decide until Friday morning which of the vice-presidents Harald Schermann, Konrad Renner and Robert Wieger will replace Georg Pangl, who has also resigned, on the ÖFB's highest governing body.

Klaus Mitterdorfer's successor will be elected on Friday(Bild: GEPA)

The prerequisite for the election would be a short-term amendment to the statutes, according to which not just one of the four vice-presidents can be elected president. The newly elected President - who only needs a simple majority, i.e. seven votes - will remain in office until the next Annual General Meeting. This is scheduled for May 2025 in Bregenz, but is likely to be brought forward - the necessary resolution could also be passed on Friday.

"Never happened in the last two years"
The Bundesliga also had a multi-page document on the topic of structural reform put on the agenda: "There has never been such a concrete reform proposal in the last two years, i.e. since I have been part of the presidium," emphasized Christian Jauk, president of Sturm Graz. Excitement is therefore guaranteed in many respects, and then hopefully peace will return to all those involved: Because immediately after the meeting, the ÖFB Christmas party begins at 6pm.