The Swiss resort of Crans-Montana was chosen to host the 2027 World Ski Championships two years ago. At the time, it was up against other candidates such as Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Narvik and Soldeu El Tarter. Since then, however, a number of issues have remained unresolved. As a result, the International Ski Federation (FIS) is still negotiating with Swiss Ski to sign the organising contract. Last Friday, the FIS issued a statement questioning the origin of the financial guarantees provided during the bidding process. Swiss Ski claimed that they came from the Confederation, the Canton of Valais and the municipalities. In its statement, the FIS points out: "Swiss Ski recently argued that the guarantees provided required a political referendum. It is difficult to go back to the moment of the decision and to have the same conditions. However, the FIS is in favour of equality between all candidates The Swiss federation also responded with an assessment of the FIS statement, rejecting the accusations made by the FIS regarding the lack of veracity of the guarantees given. 

A day later, Diego Züger, the co-director of Swiss Ski, appeared in public and stated: "We have always acted within the bounds of legality and respected the law. This weekend, the women's downhill and super-G races will take place in Crans-Montana. This will be an opportunity for the two institutions to discuss the matter.

On the other hand, the status of the Organising Agreement for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Crans-Montana 2027 was the subject of a series of questions put to the FIS by the NZZ. The FIS responded courteously to the NZZ. However, in order to provide all guarantees and transparent information, the FIS has decided to make its answers public. In this way, the FIS has received the following questions from the NZZ publication:

Why has FIS not yet signed the agreement for the organisation of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana in 2027?

In short, Swiss-Ski has not yet fulfilled the legal requirements in its bid to host the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 2027. When Swiss-Ski applied as a candidate for 2021, like all other candidates, it had to provide certain confirmations and commitments in the bidding documents. One of these commitments concerns to financial guarantees. These are necessary to ensure that the local organisers can meet their contractual obligations.

Swiss-Ski therefore had to confirm in its bid that it had obtained adequate financial guarantees, as did all other bidders. Accordingly, Swiss-Ski confirmed in its bid that financial guarantees had already been provided by the Swiss Confederation, the Canton of Valais and the Association of Communes of Crans-Montana. 

These parties have sufficient resources to cover the contractual obligations under the Organising Agreement. Without these confirmations, Swiss-Ski would simply not have been awarded the 2027 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Swiss-Ski has now informed FIS that the Swiss Confederation, the Canton of Valais and the Association of Communes of Crans-Montana cannot provide the required financial guarantees without a referendum. Swiss-Ski has therefore asked to be exempted from providing the financial guarantees. It is therefore clear that the statement made by Swiss-Ski in its application that the financial guarantees of the Swiss Confederation, the Canton of Valais and the Association of Communes of Crans-Montana were already in place was completely false. FIS is not in a position to sign the Organising Agreement for Crans-Montana without adequate financial guarantees. The financial guarantee was an essential part of the bidding process. Without it, the 2027 World Championships would not have been awarded to Crans-Montana or any other bidder.

What happens if no solution is found?

FIS will have no choice but to award the 2027 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships to another candidate if Swiss-Ski is unable to meet its obligations. It would be completely unfair to the other candidates for the FIS to proceed with Crans Montana in circumstances where the legal requirements of the bid have not been met. Furthermore, the FIS itself could be liable for losses if it does not ensure that adequate financial guarantees are in place.

The bidding process for FIS World Ski Championships must be fair and transparent. Granting a waiver to a candidate who has misrepresented a key bidding requirement, as Swiss-Ski has done, would be highly damaging to the integrity of the bidding process and ultimately to the sport of skiing. The FIS deeply regrets this very disappointing situation.

Swiss-Ski refers to the exclusion of the 2025 Freestyle World Championships...

This is correct. However, this event is not comparable to the Alpine World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana. It has contractual obligations that Swiss-Ski can easily fulfil. They are a small fraction of those of the Alpine World Ski Championships.