Dismissed top sports director Matti Heikkinen signed the departure package from the Olympic Committee on Thursday. The committee may not use taxpayers’ money to finance it.
14:53•Updated 15:03
The Olympic Committee and the dismissed top sports director Matti Heikkinen the struggle came to an end on Thursday, when the committee and Heikkinen finally reached an agreement on the amount of money the man will use to leave the umbrella organization once and for all. It was not legally possible for the employer to terminate the fixed-term employment contract, which was signed until spring 2026, because Heikkinen’s actions did not provide grounds for it.
The minutes of the board meeting published on the website of the Olympic Committee throws interesting additional light on the case. According to the minutes, Heikkinen himself asked the board of the Olympic Committee in Vierumäki on September 7 to release him from the position of top sports director and to find him a new job within the Olympic Committee.
According to Urheilu’s information, the request was preceded by Heikkinen’s CEO Taina Susiluoto and the chairman Jan Vapaavuoren a closed, confidential conversation with The leadership of the Olympic Committee met in a crisis atmosphere after the historic zero-medal Summer Olympics in Paris.
– He was offered other management-level jobs from within the Olympic Committee, but in the end we reached a solution in which he leaves the committee, formulated the CEO, who negotiated with Heikkinen for about a month about the starting package Taina Susiluoto on Friday.
It became expensive
Even if Heikkinen did not receive a salary for the entire contract period, it is clear that the man’s departure was expensive for the Olympic Committee. Susuluoto did not disclose the size or other contents of the starting package. Heikkinen commented on the changing situation on Urheilu on Friday with a message:
– Together, we came to the conclusion that it is time to pass the torch to the following actors. When one door closes, another opens, wrote Heikkinen, who praised his work community in his message.
More than 70 percent of the Olympic Committee’s budget comes from the Ministry of Education and Culture, i.e. taxpayers. The committee’s state aid for the current year was 6.395 million euros. The use of euros binding detailed instructions.
“No approved use of money”
– Funding such severance packages from grants from the Ministry of Education and Culture is not a use of money approved in the grant conditions, says the inspector general Hannu Tolonen from the ministry.
According to Taina Susiluoto, the discussion connection with Heikkinen remained through the autumn. The CEO said that he hopes that Heikkinen, whom he hired for the Olympic Committee 2022, will continue to work in elite sports. He didn’t see his recruitment two years ago as a mistake; another option for a top sports director was a walking legend at the time Valentin Kononen.
– Matti was a needed leader at that moment.
He is currently working as the temporary director of the elite sports unit Jaana Tulla. Pestin will only be filled with a permanent member by the process initiated by the Olympic Committee’s new chairman and board. They will not be chosen until November 30, so Tulla pesti will continue for months.