Francesco Purromuto unanimously elected president of the Mediterranean Games until 2030
Italian lawyer and long-serving sports official Francesco Purromuto is the new president of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG), after being elected by acclamation on 20 August 2026 at the elective General Assembly held in Castellaneta Marina, in the Italian province of Taranto. According to the official announcements by the ICMG and the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), Purromuto received unanimous support for a four-year term running until 2030, while delegates from all 26 national Olympic committees affiliated with the organisation were represented at the assembly. The election was held immediately ahead of the XX Mediterranean Games Taranto 2026, which opened on 21 August and will run until 3 September. This also gave the change at the top of the ICMG a strong symbolic dimension: the new leadership is taking over the organisation precisely at the beginning of its largest sporting event in the current cycle. Purromuto will lead the ICMG through a period ending with the XXI Mediterranean Games in Pristina in 2030.
Purromuto's election brought to an end the transitional period that followed the death of the previous president, Davide Tizzano, on 29 December 2025. The ICMG announced at the time that Tizzano had died after more than a decade of service within the organisation's bodies, including a presidential term that began in 2021. In the months following his death, the duties of the head of the organisation were temporarily carried out by First Vice-President Mehrez Boussayene of Tunisia, who was reconfirmed as First Vice-President at the new elective assembly. This sequence of events means that the new leadership is not starting from scratch, but is taking over the institution at a moment when it is simultaneously necessary to preserve continuity and implement the announced changes. Continuity, the autonomy of sport and modernisation were among the main themes of Purromuto's first message following his election.
Purromuto announces protection of the autonomy of sport and institutional changes
According to CONI, after the election Purromuto stressed that he considers the autonomy of sport to be one of the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement and that he sees it not as a privilege, but as a responsibility. His message focused on cooperation among ICMG members, preserving the organisation's identity and, at the same time, opening it up to innovation. The new president also stated that there are changes that can no longer be postponed, clearly indicating that the term until 2030 will not be conceived merely as the management of the competition calendar. Although no detailed public reform programme with deadlines and individual measures was presented at the elective assembly, his previous role within the ICMG indicates that governance, ethics and the legal framework will be among the important areas of work. This is particularly relevant in international sport, where sports organisations are increasingly facing demands for more transparent decision-making, clearer accountability rules and consistent respect for the principles of political neutrality and institutional autonomy.
Purromuto enters his new role with experience linking sports governance and sports law. The ICMG describes him as an Italian lawyer, university professor and experienced sports administrator, and from 1997 to 2017 he served as president of the Italian Handball Federation (FIGH). The official history of FIGH elective assemblies confirms that Purromuto first led the federation at the 1997 assembly and remained at its head until the election of a new president in 2017. He was also a member of the CONI National Council and president of the Mediterranean Handball Confederation, and today he also contributes to CONI's journal dedicated to sports law. Such a biography suggests that his presidential term will have a pronounced institutional component, particularly in the areas of rules, accountability and relations between sports organisations and public authorities.
The 2023 Code of Ethics as an important part of his previous work
One of the most important elements of Purromuto's previous work within the ICMG was his role as president of the Ethics and Legal Commission. In March 2023, the ICMG Executive Committee unanimously approved the implementation of the first Code of Ethics in the organisation's history, and the ICMG's official announcement states that the proposal was presented by Purromuto himself. The code was part of a broader attempt to align the institutional rules of the Mediterranean Games with the principles of the International Olympic Committee, including respect for the Olympic spirit, political neutrality, the autonomy of sport and fundamental ethical standards. The ICMG later stated, in September 2023, that the code had been adopted in full compliance with IOC guidelines, while the General Assembly that same year also approved amendments to the ICMG Charter prepared by Purromuto. His arrival in the presidency therefore represents a continuation of a process in which he has already played a direct role, but now with greater political and executive responsibility for implementing such standards.
The importance of these issues extends beyond the administrative framework of the organisation itself. The Mediterranean Games bring together national Olympic committees from Europe, Africa and Asia, meaning athletes and institutions from politically, economically and culturally very different environments. The ICMG therefore operates in a space in which sporting cooperation often has to function despite broader political tensions among states and societies. In such a system, rules on impartiality, ethics and autonomy are not merely formal documents, but mechanisms intended to enable competitions to function in a predictable and equitable manner. Purromuto's announcement that he wants to protect the organisation's identity while modernising it at the same time will be measurable precisely through the way in which the ICMG applies its own rules in concrete situations during his term.
New Executive Committee for the 2026 - 2030 cycle
The elective assembly did not decide only on the president. The ICMG also announced the composition of the key part of its leadership for the 2026 - 2030 term, with the leading positions confirmed unanimously. Mehrez Boussayene of Tunisia remained First Vice-President, Bernard Amsalem of France was elected Second Vice-President, Iakovos Filippousis of Greece as Secretary General, and Yiotis Ioannides of Cyprus as Treasurer. Representatives of Egypt, Montenegro, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Slovenia and Turkey were also elected to the Executive Committee. Such a geographical distribution reflects the fundamental structure of the ICMG as an organisation seeking to connect different parts of the Mediterranean sporting space.
- President: Francesco Purromuto, Italy
- First Vice-President: Mehrez Boussayene, Tunisia
- Second Vice-President: Bernard Amsalem, France
- Secretary General: Iakovos Filippousis, Greece
- Treasurer: Yiotis Ioannides, Cyprus
- Members of the Executive Committee: Yasser Idris, Maja Peković, Pedro Farromba, Cayetano Cornet, Abdellatif Idmahamma, Blaž Perko and Ayda Uluç
The new leadership will have to simultaneously manage the organisation's day-to-day operations and prepare decisions that have a long-term impact on future hosts, the sports programme, ethical standards and relations with Olympic institutions. Since the presidential term covers the entire period until 2030, Purromuto and the Executive Committee will be directly associated with the transition from Taranto to Pristina. Between those two editions, the 2027 Mediterranean Beach Games will also be held in the Portuguese cities of Portimão and Lagoa, which the ICMG General Assembly unanimously selected in 2023. This means that the new president will already have another international multi-sport event in the first half of his term as a test of organisational and governance priorities. The cycle until 2030 therefore includes both regular competition operations and possible further institutional reforms.
Taranto 2026 as the first major stage of the new presidency
Purromuto's election is closely linked in time to the Mediterranean Games Taranto 2026, whose opening ceremony was held on 21 August at the Erasmo Iacovone Stadium. According to official data from the organisers, the Games run until 3 September, and 3,854 athletes from 26 Olympic committees have been announced in Apulia, together with four representatives of Athletica Vaticana. Taranto is the fourth Italian host of the Mediterranean Games after Naples in 1963, Bari in 1997 and Pescara in 2009. The ceremony was officially opened by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, while numerous state and sports officials from Mediterranean countries were also in attendance. For the ICMG, the election of a new president immediately before the start of the competition therefore also had practical value, because the organisation enters the largest event of the cycle with a full four-year leadership team in place.
CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio recalled Tizzano's contribution at the assembly and stressed that the Mediterranean Games should promote dialogue, inclusiveness, education and peace. Such messages correspond to the traditional role of the event, which since its establishment has been conceived as a sporting link among the countries of the Mediterranean region. However, the contemporary context requires more than symbolism from organisers: major multi-sport events must address questions of costs, infrastructure, sustainability, anti-doping standards, security and the long-term use of sports facilities. Purromuto's legal and governance experience will be important precisely during a period in which international sports bodies are expected to provide clearer decision-making and accountability criteria. Taranto 2026, meanwhile, represents the first opportunity for the new presidency to demonstrate how it will combine institutional continuity with the announced modernisation.
From Tizzano's legacy towards Pristina 2030
The transfer of power is additionally marked by the legacy of Davide Tizzano, who led the ICMG from 2021 until his death at the end of 2025. The ICMG states that before his presidential term Tizzano had been a member of the Executive Committee since 2013, meaning that he spent 12 consecutive years within the governing structure of the Mediterranean Games. In his sporting career, he was a two-time Olympic rowing champion: he won gold in the quadruple sculls at the 1988 Games in Seoul and in the double sculls in Atlanta in 1996. After his death, the organisation held an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee in January 2026 dedicated to his legacy and the continuity of its work. Purromuto therefore takes over the role in circumstances in which the new leadership is expected both to respect the previous direction and to demonstrate the ability to adapt the organisation to the next cycle.
The final point of that cycle will be Pristina 2030. The ICMG selected the host of the XXI Mediterranean Games at the General Assembly in Heraklion in September 2023, when Pristina received 55 out of 66 votes. That decision gives Purromuto's term a clear timeframe and a concrete organisational objective: to prepare the transition from the Italian edition in 2026 to the next host, while overseeing key institutional and sporting processes. For Kosovo, the 2030 Games will be an event of major international sporting importance, while for the ICMG they will represent a test of its ability to apply standards of governance, ethics, organisation and sporting autonomy in a completely different host environment. It is precisely along that path that it will become clear to what extent Purromuto's announcements of change were programmatic and to what extent they will be transformed into lasting institutional results.
For now, the clearest message from Castellaneta Marina is politically and organisationally very simple: after a transition period lasting several months, the ICMG once again has a president with a full term and the unanimous support of the assembly. Purromuto comes to the head of the organisation as an official who has already participated in drafting its ethical and legal rules, and now assumes responsibility for their implementation at the highest level. At the same time, he inherits a system that connects 26 national Olympic committees and manages events whose sporting and political significance extends beyond the results on the field of play themselves. His term begins while the Games in Taranto are under way, will continue through the 2027 Mediterranean Beach Games and will end in the year of Pristina 2030. During that period, the autonomy of sport, the modernisation of governance and the ability to preserve a common Mediterranean sporting space will be the main measures of success of the new leadership.
Sources:
- International Committee of the Mediterranean Games (ICMG) - official announcement on the election of Francesco Purromuto and the composition of the leadership for the 2026 - 2030 period (link)
- Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (CONI) - report from the elective assembly, Purromuto's messages and information on the transitional leadership following the death of Davide Tizzano (link)
- ICMG - official announcement on the organisation's first Code of Ethics and Purromuto's role in its preparation (link)
- ICMG - decision on hosting the 2030 Mediterranean Games in Pristina and the 2027 Mediterranean Beach Games in Portimão and Lagoa (link)
- ICMG - official announcement on the death of Davide Tizzano and his work within the organisation (link)
- Taranto 2026 / CONI - official information on the dates and number of registered athletes at the XX Mediterranean Games (link)
- Federazione Italiana Giuoco Handball (FIGH) - archive of national assemblies and confirmation of Purromuto's presidential period in Italian handball (link)