With current IIHF President Luc Tardif announcing earlier this year that he will not seek re-election when his term ends in October, Petr Bříza and Franz Reindl have emerged as two front-runners for the position.
The International Ice Hockey Federation will have a new president elected in October, with nine candidates nominated for the position.
The two frontrunners are two great guys. Petr Bříza of Czechia and Franz Reindl of Germany are hockey players who have represented their countries on and off the ice since they were young boys.
I interviewed both of them last year (which you can watch at THN.com) for the 2026 Money & Power issue, and I have spent considerable time with them in person over the years. I like them both because we all speak the same universal language: hockey.
Clearly, they have their own personalities, strengths and weaknesses, but both of their characters are first-line. Either one of these two men would be an outstanding diplomat and steward of the IIHF.
The job as president of the IIHF is very difficult indeed. The sheer number of tournaments, meetings and negotiations is mind-blowing to start with, and when you layer in the travel involved in serving its 84 member countries, it is downright a gruelling grind.
Luc Tardif steps down at 73, after serving as president for five years, and I have to say that the job has turned his hair white prematurely. I believe, however, he could have easily completed another term as president had he wanted to.
Reindl being 71 is therefore not a factor, as he can absolutely fulfill the duties of the presidency.
Briza, 61, on the other hand, has youth on his side, plus he has the advantage of already being the senior vice-president, the No. 2 executive behind the president, and he has been immersed in the challenges and opportunities that the IIHF has been dealing with on a day-to-day basis over the past five years.
If either of these two frontrunners is chosen to be the next president, the IIHF and hockey around the world will be well-served.
Petr Bříza
Petr Bříza was born on 9th December 1964 in Prague, Czecho-slovakia (now Czechia). He was elected to the IIHF Council in 2016 and became IIHF Senior Vice-President in 2021. Since then, he has also been serving as IIHF Treasurer, Chair of the Development Committee, and Chair of the Clubs and Leagues Committee.
He graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Charles University in Prague. During his professional ice hockey career, he played for 23 years across three top European leagues and represented his country in seven IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships and three Olympic Winter Games.
He was later honored with induction into the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame.
After retiring as a goaltender in 2006, Bříza was immediately appointed General Manager of HC Sparta Prague. He later became Chairman of the Board and from 2016, the club franchise owner.
Since the beginning of his post-playing career, he has been highly active in international sports diplomacy, serving as one of the initiators of the European Trophy and the Champions Hockey League (CHL), while also playing a significant role in ice hockey development initiatives.
From 2010 to 2018, he also served in municipal politics as an elected member of the Prague City Assembly. In 2008, Bříza became a member of the Executive Committee of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, and since 2012 he has served as its Vice-President, a position he continues to hold.
He was President of the Organizing Committee in Prague for the record-breaking IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2015 and 2024, and also served as OC President for the record-setting IIHF Women's World Championship in 2025 in České Budějovice
Franz Reindl
Franz Reindl was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on 24th November 1954. He still resides there. Elected to the IIHF Council in 2016 and re-elected in 2021, he is currently chair of the IIHF Event & Championship and the Athletes Committees.
Reindl spent his whole life in hockey. As a top player in Germany, he won three German Championships and played 861 games - including 181 for the national team he represented in nine IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, three Olympic Winter Games and one Canada Cup. He was on the team that won the Olympic bronze medal in Innsbruck in 1976.
After ending his career as a forward in 1988, he became a Head Coach and General Manager, first with his hometown team SC Riessersee, and then he joined the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB) in 1991, starting as an assistant to the technical director and national team assistant coach and then working his way up as Sports Director, Head Coach, General Secretary, CEO and finally as President for the past eight years.
Between 1994 and 1996, he was also the CEO of the newly-founded league DEL.
In addition, Reindl served as the General Secretary of the Organizing Committees for the 2001 and 2010 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in Germany and as CEO of the Organizing Committee for the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany and France.
He was also a member of the German bidding committees for the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and in 2015 he was named President of Team Europe for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey by the NHL and NHLPA.
During his 31 years with the German Ice Hockey Association, Reindl led the national teams as General Manager or President to 23 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, eight Olympic Winter Games, and two World Cups of Hockey. Team Germany won the Olympic Silver Medal in 2018 Pyeong Chang while he was President of the German Ice Hockey Association (DEB).
Reindl has been involved in several IIHF committees since 1998, most recently within Sports and Competition. From 2016 to 2021, he held the position of Chair of the IIHF Competition and Coordination Committee and represented the IIHF as Vice-President of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) 2018 – 2022.
Outside of hockey he worked as a Manager in wholesale and foreign trade and founded in 1976 his hardware store in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which still exists today.
*Bios reprinted from IIHF.com with permission
Also On The Ballot
- Henrik Bach Nielsen (DEN) - IIHF Vice-President
- Sergey Goncharov (BEL)
- Frank Gonzalez (ESP)
- Zakaria Khechuashvili (GEO)
- Jaan Molder (EST)
- Aivaz Omorkanov (KGZ) IIHF Vice-President
- Matjaz Rakovec (SLO)
This story was edited for digital.
This article appeared in The Hockey News' Meet The New Guys issue.
Inside, you’ll find features on NHLers Gavin McKenna, Brady Tkachuk, Bowen Byram, John Carlson and Mason McTavish and PWHLers Caroline Harvey, Andrea Brandli, Hayley Scamurra and Grace Elliott. Plus, we break down the PWHL’s expansion, rate the NHL’s winners and losers from this summer and look at how 3ICE is growing overseas
