Dragan Primorac enters the battle for the top of the HOO: elections for Mateša's successor open a new chapter of Croatian sport
The Croatian Olympic Committee is entering one of the most sensitive electoral periods in its recent history. After the resignation of Zlatko Mateša, the long-time president of the HOO, the race has opened for the person who will take over the leading position of the country's umbrella sports organization and lead it until the end of the current mandate of the Assembly. According to media announcements published on May 31, 2026, Prof. Dr. Sc. Dragan Primorac, president of the Croatian Taekwondo Federation and member of the Council of the European Taekwondo Union, is expected to announce his candidacy on June 1. If that candidacy is formally confirmed, the electoral process will gain a strong new name and clearer political, sporting and organizational dynamics.
Primorac's possible entry into the race comes at a moment when Josip Varvodić, president of the Croatian Swimming Federation and a high-ranking official in European and global aquatic sports organizations, is already being mentioned as a candidate. According to earlier media reports, Varvodić has already begun gathering support among sports federations, while Primorac's candidacy is being presented as an attempt to introduce broader institutional, international and scientific-medical experience into the management of the HOO. In the background of the race are not only the personal biographies of the candidates, but also the question of how the HOO, after a long period of Mateša's leadership, will restore trust, strengthen transparency and respond to the demands of sports federations, athletes and the public.
Zlatko Mateša's resignation launched an extraordinary election procedure
Zlatko Mateša submitted a written resignation on May 21, 2026, the Croatian Olympic Committee announced. In his letter to the public, he stated that he was making the decision as an act of moral responsibility and respect for sport, with the message that institutions must be above every individual. This ended an exceptionally long era in which Mateša, according to HOO data, had been president since 2002, and was last elected in October 2024 for the 2024 - 2028 mandate period. His departure is therefore not a regular change at the end of a mandate, but an extraordinary situation that activates special provisions of the Statute and decisions of HOO bodies.
After the resignation, the HOO announced that Mateša had authorized vice-president Sanda Čorak to serve as acting president during the transitional period. According to the HOO announcement, Čorak, who is also the president of the Croatian Judo Federation, should lead the process of convening the extraordinary assembly and electing new leadership. HOO secretary general Siniša Krajač meanwhile announced the preparation of documentation and the launch of the procedure for extraordinary sessions of HOO bodies. Such a transitional model is important because the umbrella sports association must continue making decisions on programs, funding and international obligations, regardless of the electoral process.
On May 26, 2026, the HOO Council held an electronic session at which, according to the Committee's announcement, decisions were adopted related to further governance processes. The HOO stated that the adopted decisions enable the initiation of the procedure for convening an extraordinary session of the Assembly and holding the election of a new president. In public announcements, July 29 was listed as the date of the extraordinary assembly, but the electoral process itself will depend on formal deadlines, the validity of candidacies and the support that candidates manage to gather among HOO member organizations. The new president will not begin a full four-year cycle, but, according to the HOO's explanation of the procedure, should be elected until the end of the mandate of the current Assembly, that is, until October 2028.
What the HOO Statute prescribes
According to the Statute of the Croatian Olympic Committee, the president is elected by the Assembly, in the manner and according to the procedure determined by a special decision of the Assembly on conducting elections. The Statute prescribes that the president's mandate lasts four years and that the same person may be re-elected for a new mandate period. In the extraordinary situation after the resignation, however, the key provision is the one according to which the mandate of Council members ends if the president of the HOO resigns or is dismissed from office. This means that the election of a new president is not only a personnel decision, but also opens the question of the new composition of the HOO Council.
The Statute also prescribes who may nominate a candidate. Candidates for president may be nominated by national sports federations, full members of the HOO affiliated with their parent international federations of Olympic sports, and this must be done from among the members of the Assembly with voting rights. At least ten signatures of full HOO members supporting the candidate are required to put forward a candidacy. Such a rule means that a candidacy must have initial institutional support, but also that the decisive factor will be the candidates' ability to build a broader majority among federations of different sports, interests and financial needs.
The HOO Council, according to the Statute, has 23 members, including the president, four vice-presidents, the member of the International Olympic Committee in Croatia and the representative of the Athletes' Commission. The four vice-presidents and other Council members are elected by the Assembly on the proposal of the president, with the obligation to take into account the appropriate representation of groups of HOO members. In practice, this means that the new president will not only represent the HOO in public, but will also have an important role in shaping the executive team that will manage a large part of the operational policy of Croatian sport. Precisely for this reason, the election of Mateša's successor goes beyond the question of a single office and can determine the balance of power in Croatian sport until 2028.
Primorac brings the profile of a scientist, physician and sports official
Dragan Primorac enters the possible race as a person with a recognizable public profile beyond sport itself. The Croatian Taekwondo Federation announced that on April 18, 2026, at the Federation's Assembly in Zagreb, he was elected president for a new four-year mandate period. The Federation presented him as a physician and scientist, while the program of the new leadership emphasized unity, transparency, international recognition, the development of results and the connection of sport with modern medicine. The HTS also pointed out that taekwondo is the most decorated individual Olympic sport in Croatia, which gives Primorac's position in that federation additional weight in the Olympic environment.
A few days after his election to the head of the HTS, the Croatian Taekwondo Federation announced that Primorac had been appointed a member of the Council of the European Taekwondo Union. According to that announcement, the appointment was made on the proposal of European Taekwondo Union president Sakis Pragalos and with the confirmation of Council members. The Federation states that the ETU brings together 49 national federations and represents the most influential continental organization within world taekwondo. This gives Primorac a current international sports function, which in the campaign for the HOO could be presented as an advantage in relations with European and global sports institutions.
Sportske novosti reported that Primorac is preparing a candidacy for president of the HOO and that he is entering the race opposite Josip Varvodić from swimming. The same source also mentions his broader career in science, medicine, public life and sport, including earlier duties in the field of education and sport and work in sports health commissions. The article points out that his supporters will use as an argument the combination of experience from state administration, international scientific projects, sports medicine and the management of a sports federation. For the HOO, which is currently facing questions of trust and organizational stability, such a biography could be one of the key elements of the campaign.
Varvodić has built his profile through swimming and international aquatic sports
Josip Varvodić has in public announcements in recent days been identified as the first serious candidate for Mateša's successor. 24sata reported that Varvodić is the president of the Croatian Swimming Federation, a cardiac surgeon from Dubrava Clinical Hospital and a candidate who for now has the support of part of the smaller federations, with the possibility of expanding support toward larger sports federations. According to the same source, intensive lobbying is expected in the electoral background because a candidate for president needs at least ten signatures of support from full HOO members. This means that the formal strength of each candidacy will be visible only when valid endorsements and programs are published.
Varvodić's international profile is also confirmed by earlier announcements from the HOO and sports organizations. The HOO reported that in 2022 Varvodić was elected vice-president of the European aquatic sports federation, the then LEN, and later announcements also connect him with the position of first vice-president of European Aquatics. The Croatian Swimming Federation, in its documents, lists Varvodić as president of the Federation and representative of the HPS in the HOO Assembly for the 2024 - 2028 mandate period. This means he meets an important prerequisite for participation in the HOO's electoral process as a person from the circle of assembly representatives with voting rights.
The comparison of Varvodić and Primorac therefore cannot be reduced only to the question of personal recognizability. Varvodić brings into the race experience from aquatic sports, international federations and the work of a national federation, while Primorac would emphasize a broader career in science, medicine, state administration and Olympic taekwondo. For HOO members, the key issue will be which candidate can offer a sustainable funding program, a clearer governance model and a convincing vision of relations between large Olympic federations, smaller sports, non-Olympic disciplines and local sports communities. In that sense, the upcoming elections could grow into a debate about the very model of sports governance, and not only about the successor to Zlatko Mateša.
The HOO manages a large system and budget
The importance of the election is additionally visible from the financial and institutional weight of the HOO. According to official announcements, the HOO is the umbrella sports association in the Republic of Croatia, founded on September 10, 1991, in Zagreb, with the role of representing Croatian sport before the International Olympic Committee and other international sports organizations. The HOO protects the symbols of the Olympic movement, coordinates programs of public needs in sport at the state level and has an important role in preparing athletes for Olympic, European and Mediterranean competitions. For this reason, the person at the head of the Committee influences the strategy of the entire system, from elite sport to development programs and international representation.
In March 2026, the HOO announced that the Assembly had accepted an increased budget for 2026 in the amount of 64.5 million euros. In public debates about the elections, this figure is often emphasized because it shows the scale of responsibility of the future president and Council. The largest part of the funds is generally tied to programs of sports federations, development activities, preparations and appearances of athletes, and obligations toward the system of public needs in sport. Therefore, candidates will be expected to offer not only a general message about changes, but also a concrete approach to the distribution of funds, criteria, supervision and communication with federations.
After Mateša's resignation, interest in governance, legality and oversight in sports institutions has been further strengthened. In such an atmosphere, candidates will hardly be able to campaign only on the basis of personal reputation or support from individual federations. They will be expected to provide answers on the transparency of funding, public availability of decisions, the role of athletes in HOO bodies, the relationship toward local sports communities, the professionalization of expert services and cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Sport. The election of the new president will therefore also be a test of the system's readiness, after a long period of continuity, to enter a phase of clearer responsibility and modernization.
The race is only just opening; signatures and programs will decide
Although the names of candidates are already being mentioned in public, the electoral process still has to pass through formal steps. According to the HOO's interpretation of the procedure, the Assembly first accepts the president's resignation and makes decisions related to the dismissal of the Council, after which the procedure for nominating candidates is launched. HOO members must be informed of the decision to initiate the procedure, and the session with the election of the new president is held after the prescribed deadline. Only when candidacies are submitted on time, confirmed by signatures and presented programmatically will it be possible to assess the real balance of power.
Primorac's announced candidacy could change the current dynamics because HOO member organizations would be choosing between candidates with different professional and sporting profiles. Varvodić has a foothold in swimming and international aquatic sports, while Primorac comes from taekwondo, science, medicine and public administration. Both profiles can be presented as an answer to the current needs of the HOO, but the final decision will be in the hands of the Assembly and will depend on the candidates' ability to gather a sufficiently broad coalition. Until then, the most important thing will be to distinguish formally confirmed candidacies from media announcements, because only the support of full HOO members and decisions of the competent bodies have legal effect in the electoral procedure.
For Croatian Olympic sport, these elections come at a moment when stability, change and clearer standards of governance are expected at the same time. The successor to Zlatko Mateša will take over an organization with a large budget, a complex network of member organizations and an important international role. The coming weeks will show whether the race will be reduced to a duel between Primorac and Varvodić or whether more candidates will appear. What is already clear is that the election of the new president of the HOO will be one of the most important processes in Croatian sport in 2026.
Sources:
- Croatian Olympic Committee – announcement of Zlatko Mateša's written resignation of May 21, 2026 (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – announcement of the authorization of Sanda Čorak as acting president during the transitional period (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – decisions of the HOO Council on holding an extraordinary assembly and conducting elections (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – explanation of the electoral procedure after the resignation of the president of the HOO (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – HOO Statute, consolidated text from July 2024, provisions on the president, candidacies and the Council (link)
- Croatian Taekwondo Federation – announcement of the election of Dragan Primorac as president of the Federation (link)
- Croatian Taekwondo Federation – announcement of the appointment of Dragan Primorac as a member of the Council of the European Taekwondo Union (link)
- Sportske novosti / Jutarnji list – media report on Dragan Primorac's announced candidacy for president of the HOO (link)
- 24sata – media report on the candidacy of Josip Varvodić and the context of the electoral process in the HOO (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – announcement of Josip Varvodić's election as vice-president of the European aquatic sports federation LEN (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – announcement of the HOO budget for 2026 in the amount of 64.5 million euros (link)