Current President Zlatko Mateša Re-Elected for a New Four-Year Term at the Helm of the Croatian Olympic Committee

At the same session, the Croatian Olympic Committee conducted an election process in which officials for the remaining leading bodies of Croatia’s top sports organization were also elected.

The election process preceded a ten-minute presentation on the Croatian Olympic Committee’s activities over the previous four years. The HOO Secretary General, Siniša Krajač, presented to the Assembly members all the significant advances the Croatian Olympic Committee had made in sports, administration, technology, media, and other areas of operation, emphasizing a 150% budget increase, the relocation of the organization to its newly acquired premises, and the restructuring of the Sports Television, owned by the Croatian Olympic Committee.

Following this, Zlatko Mateša, as the sole presidential candidate, gave his pre-election address, highlighting that he wouldn’t focus on the positive achievements like the Secretary-General had. His speech outlined potential and evident issues that Croatian sports must address shortly, offering his vision for possible solutions:

- "I’m thankful for the tremendous support, as 74 signatures backing my candidacy represent strong support. We face challenging times, primarily due to demographic constraints. We have about 720,000 young people under the age of 19, and the question is how, with such a small base, we can support around 80 sports federations and remain among the top 15% of nations in terms of success at the Olympic Games, competing against 206 countries. We need to support families whose children are involved in sports, easing the burden of buying equipment, travel expenses, membership fees, and ensuring that these children become our pledge for future Olympic Games. A voucher system, like in other countries, would help here, and we’ll further develop it. Another major issue is our sports clubs, which are struggling. Our companies should invest in clubs, and the tax regulations for such investments need to become more attractive. Without strengthening clubs, it’s hard to have strong national teams. We have the Croatian Olympic Committee’s development programs as an example. There isn’t a single Olympic medalist who hasn’t passed through the Croatian Olympic Committee’s development programs. We will continue to finance not only medal winners from Paris but also all other athletes who competed at the Games. Another issue is sports infrastructure, and I truly don’t understand why we can’t follow the example of Hungary or Austria in this... The International Olympic Committee didn’t just randomly add the word ‘together’ to the Olympic motto – I believe that together we can improve the current state,” Mateša said, outlining his vision for the next four-year term.

Through a unanimous public vote by Assembly members, Mateša was re-elected as the president (a position he has held since 2002), and his proposal for four vice-presidents was subsequently confirmed: Željko Jerkov (Croatian Olympians Club), Barbara Matić (the Croatian Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission), Marijan Kustić (Croatian Football Federation), and Sanda Čorak (Croatian Judo Federation). The newly elected president also proposed, and the Assembly accepted, 16 members of the Croatian Olympic Committee Council (a total of 23 members): the president, four vice-presidents, International Olympic Committee member Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, Ivan Veštić (athletics), Tomislav Grahovac (handball), Valentina Bifflin (volleyball), Perica Bukić (water polo), Anto Nobilo (taekwondo), Miho Glavić (skiing), Srećko Ferenčak (squash), Zlatko Taritaš (sailing), Željko Kisić (rowing), Mario Meštrović (Sports Community of Vukovar-Srijem County), Nikola Rukavina (basketball), Zoran Primorac (table tennis), Marijo Možnik (gymnastics), Zdravko Marić (tennis), Damir Knjaz (golf), and Snježana Jurinić (Sports Community of Zadar County). At the next session, Dragutin Kamenski (rugby) is expected to be involved in the Council.

The Croatian Olympic Committee Supervisory Board members elected were: Ivan Jelenčić, Fernando Kirigin, Goran Kovačić, Stjepan Krznarić, and Romeo Vrečko. The Ethical Committee members elected were: Andrea Vrbik, Siniša Lučić, Mario Dokmanić, Krešimir Koketi, and Martina Zubčić Dušak. The heads of the Croatian Olympic Committee’s sports groups committees are: Sanda Čorak (summer Olympic sports), Miho Glavić (winter Olympic sports), Zlatko Mateša (non-Olympic sports), and Mario Meštrović (local sports communities).