Henrik Nilsson was elected FIB chairman in the summer of 2024. Now he is resigning - after the rest of the board recently declared that they lack confidence in him.
They have wanted to make this a personal issue instead of a factual one. That is, they want to hide behind saying they do not trust me, when the real question is "How do we actually deal with Russia?", says Henrik Nilsson.
No World Cup
In the background are the financial problems that the recent World Cup tournaments have had when two major bandy nations, Russia and Belarus, are suspended due to the Russian offensive war against Ukraine.
It was also recently decided that there will be no World Cup for either men's or women's next year, after Sweden, Finland and Norway jointly announced that they would skip it for financial reasons.
In May, the FIB appointed a working group – of which Nilsson was a part – to investigate how often the World Cup should be played in the future and present proposals to the executive committee “regarding the integration of Russian and Belarusian bandy teams”.
According to Henrik Nilsson, however, there has been a parallel rapprochement with Russia behind his back.
“Not informed”
I have said that we need support from the Nordic countries, both at the government and sports level, if we are going to let Russia in again.
This has not been listened to, but instead there have been constant contacts with Russia that I have not been informed about.
Instead, the committee announced in May that it no longer has confidence in Nilsson, who is now responding by leaving his post.
"My decision was not made lightly, but reflects my personal responsibility to step aside when I can no longer stand behind FIB's direction," Nilsson writes in his resignation letter.
