The Swedish Ski Federation is struggling with many kinds of problems.
The Swedish Ski Association is buzzing. According to the Swedish media, the union has been through death threats, millions of losses as well as power struggles.
The association’s alpine skiing division is in financial problems. Aftonbladet by the Alpine side’s budget is in deficit by 10 million Swedish kronor, or about 880,000 euros. Back in the 2017–2018 season, equity was 14.6 million kroner, or about 1.3 million euros. Now the Alpine side is in the red by 4.9 million kroner, or about 430,000 euros. In six years, almost 1.8 million euros have left the treasury.
One reason for the financial problems has been clothing sponsors. In 2022, the cooperation agreement with one clothing sponsor was terminated because the sponsor did not meet the financial terms of the agreement. Last year, a new clothing supplier went bankrupt.
At the same time, the Swedish Skiing Association has become the vice-president to Stefan Bessman death threat. Member of the board last winter Lisa Aberg received an email threatening to neutralize Bessman.
Åberg had passed the message on to Bessman. He had interpreted the message as a threat. The threat was triggered when Bessman had responded to angry Facebook comments after criticism of the ski association’s management. The threat was from the Swedish public broadcasting company SVT by dissatisfied with the operation of the Ski Association amid criticism. The Facebook discussion had been preceded by a critical discussion about the leadership of the Swedish Ski Association on SVT’s TV broadcast.
Besmann reported the threat to the Riksidrottsnämnden, the “highest court” of sports in Sweden. The announcement concerned board colleague Åberg because, according to Bessman, Åberg did not reveal the identity of the sender of the threatening message.
Bessman also made two criminal reports to the police. Another of them also concerned a government colleague, Åberg, who, according to Bessman, protected the sender of the threatening message. According to SVT, the police stopped the investigation into the possible crime because it could not be investigated in the absence of traces.
The Riksidrottsnämnden (Rin) is expected to make a decision on the case in October. Åberg has also reported from Bessman to Rin. According to SVT, the situation escalated in the summer to such an extent that members of the board of the Swedish Ski Association threatened to resign if Åberg did not resign from the board himself.
of SVT by alpine skiers have to suffer from the financial situation and also have to pay even more for competing themselves next season.