Sion 2026 Olympic-bid official quits
GENEVA — A senior official with Sion’s bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics stepped down Friday while being investigated by the Swiss soccer league over a physical confrontation with a television analyst.
Sion soccer club president Christian Constantin was filmed confronting Rolf Fringer — a former coach of Switzerland’s national team — after his team won at Lugano on Thursday.
The Swiss soccer league said it “vehemently condemns such behaviour” and asked its disciplinary commission to investigate. “The FC Sion president confirmed the facts in a television interview,” the league said in a statement.
Constantin told Fringer’s TV network that the analyst deserved the “kick in the backside” he got for recent criticism of how Sion was run.
On Friday, Constantin offered to step aside from his work as vice-president of the committee promoting Sion’s intended Olympic bid. Bid committee president Jean-Philippe Rochat told radio station Rhone FM he was relieved by Constantin’s offer.
“It’s a request that I accepted,” said Rochat, adding it “allows us to avoid negative consequences for Sion 2026.”
Constantin, the wealthy owner of an architecture firm, has a long-standing reputation as a hands-on club owner who has previously fired several coaches in a season.
He also has taken interim control of the first team, including one spell in 2009 when Sion won a Swiss Cup semifinal match against a Lucerne team coached by Fringer.
The 2026 Olympic host will be chosen by International Olympic Committee members in 2019. Potential bidders include Sion; Calgary; and Innsbruck, Austria.