The 2027 Alpine World Championships may not take place in Crans-Montana, contrary to previously planned. According to the world association FIS, its member Swiss-Ski had to admit three years before the title fights that it had only faked the existence of the required financial guarantees when applying for 2022. However, the Swiss rejected the allegations and the FIS’s representation.
The FIS, which had relied on financial commitments from both the Swiss national association and the canton of Valais and the municipality when making the World Cup decision, announced on its website that the World Cup competitions would be re-allocated: “If Swiss-Ski cannot fulfill its obligations , the FIS will have no alternative other than appointing another host for the 2027 World Cup.” Crans-Montana’s defeated competitors in the awarding of the 2027 World Cup a good two years ago also included the German candidate Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
According to FIS, the Swiss association sees no possibility of providing financial guarantees without conducting citizen surveys. For this reason, Swiss-Ski subsequently asked for an exemption from the mandatory submission of guarantee declarations. This situation is apparently also the reason for the delays in signing the contract to host the World Cup in three years.
The FIS publicly accused its Swiss member organization of serious misconduct: “The confirmations for guarantee declarations were completely falsified. Granting an exemption to a candidate who has submitted false application documents would damage the integrity of the application process and ultimately damage the sport of skiing.”
The Swiss association reacted with incomprehension to the world association’s presentation. “We formally reject the FIS’s accusation of not keeping promises made during the candidacy phase. We cannot understand the FIS statement because various allegations are simply not true,” it said in a statement: “Swiss-Ski has had fixed commitments from the federal government, canton and municipalities about support contributions since the beginning, the amount of which has long been agreed. Nothing has changed in these general conditions since then.”
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Crans-Montana, where a downhill and a Super-G were scheduled for the Women’s World Cup at the weekend, had already been awarded the 2027 World Cup in the first round of voting at the FIS Congress in Milan in 2022 with eleven out of 18 votes. Garmisch only received one vote for his attempt to take the title fight for the third time after 1978 and 2011. Other applicants included the Norwegian candidate Narvik and Andorra’s Soldeu winter sports resort. In 2025, Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria will be the venue for the next Alpine World Championships.
