SWISS ICE HOCKEY NATIONAL COACH DISMISSED | INTEGRITY QUESTIONS CONCERNING COACH AND JOURNALIST
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (SIHF) has dismissed Patrick Fischer, the national team’s coach, following his admission, which has only just come to light, of forging a Covid-19 vaccination certificate, which he used to gain admission to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
His dismissal marks a significant change in the SIHF handling of the matter, having initially indicated that it would stand by its coach. The board of SIHF had argued that the offence was a private matter for which Fischer had already faced the legal consequences, including a substantial fine.
The SIHF President, Urs Kessler, has now acknowledged that their initial view that the matter was closed simply because the legal case had ended was too narrow to uphold the sport’s integrity and the values and respect that are expected of a national leader and role model.
According to Kessler:
“The federation regrets that it paid too little attention to this aspect in its first assessment. At the same time, the federation thanks Patrick Fischer for his undisputed great sporting successes. Under his leadership, the Swiss national team has continuously developed over a decade, has moved from eighth to second in the world rankings, and has won three silver medals, thereby leaving a lasting impact on Swiss ice hockey.”
Swiss Olympic, the National Olympic Committee of Switzerland, also noted that Fischer’s actions have compromised the integrity of the entire Swiss delegation in Beijing.
The dismissal of Fischer has caused anger in the Swiss ice hockey community, coming as it has weeks before the 2026 World Championship, which will be held on 15 -31 May in Zurich and Fribourg, many arguing that the SIHF has prioritised political considerations over sporting success.
Furthermore, it may be noted that sports integrity has become a priority issue of sports governing bodies in recent times in Switzerland and elsewhere, including the International Olympic Committee, which has made it a key pillar of its Olympic Agenda 2020+5.
However, integrity questions do also arise in relation to the journalist of the Swiss Television (SRG) who was using an admission made by the coach himself during a lunch. Here the question is whether the journalist did missue the trust of the coach by using information provided to him during a private discussion.
We act in sports employment disputes and sports integrity cases and further information is available from Dr Lucien Valloni and Avv. Sara Botti by emailing them at valloni@valloni.ch and botti@valloni.ch respectively.