Zlatko Mateša resigns as head of the Croatian Olympic Committee
Zlatko Mateša resigned on May 21, 2026, from the post of president of the Croatian Olympic Committee, ending one of the longest periods of leadership in Croatian sport. According to the statement published by the Croatian Olympic Committee, Mateša explained the decision by the need to direct the attention of the public, institutions and the sports community toward the full, responsible and transparent clarification of all issues connected with the functioning of the sports system. In a message addressed to female athletes, male athletes and sports officials, he stated that institutions must be above every individual and that he was submitting his resignation as an act of moral responsibility. The resignation comes at a time of increased pressure on the COC and several sports federations over issues of financial operations, oversight of public money and the responsibility of leading figures in sport.
In the statement, Mateša emphasized that he had waited with the decision until the completion of proceedings within the COC in which, according to the Committee’s claims, it was established that the funds the Croatian Ski Association received from the Croatian Olympic Committee had not been used illegally. In the same statement, he said that possible irregularities could relate exclusively to the handling of funds from other revenues of the Croatian Ski Association. Such wording is important because it places the resignation in the broader context of scandals that have in recent months opened the question of oversight over sports financing, but it does not mean that criminal responsibility has been officially confirmed against Mateša personally. According to available information, procedures by the competent bodies and checks of documentation remain at the center of public interest.
Resignation after pressure on the COC and debates on responsibility
According to the published statement, Mateša said that Croatian sport, athletes and citizens deserve a system in which trust, responsibility and equality apply to all federations, without exception. In the same text, he stressed that he considers it necessary for institutions to thoroughly review the business operations and activities of all components of the sports system, starting with the largest federations, regardless of the share of public funds in their budgets. He thereby linked his resignation to the institutional restoration of trust, and not only to an individual case. He also emphasized that he had performed his duty guided by the interest of sport, but that in the circumstances that had arisen he saw a moral obligation to take a step that should enable the stabilization of the system.
The decision followed a series of public polemics about who in the COC bears political, managerial and operational responsibility for financial operations. At the beginning of May, according to reports by Index and a Telegram interview that was carried by several media outlets, Mateša claimed that as president he does not sign financial documents and that financial operations are handled by the secretary general, not the president of the COC. At that time he also said that he did not intend to resign, which makes today’s decision a politically and organizationally important reversal. According to those reports, Mateša described his role as voluntary and focused on relations with international sports institutions, international federations and state bodies.
In the statement of May 21, the tone is different: Mateša no longer emphasizes only the formal division of powers, but speaks of moral responsibility and the need for all attention to be directed toward processes that should bring clarity, trust and stability. Such a move comes after several days of pressure on the leadership of the COC and after the media reported that investigators had requested documentation connected with the operations of sports institutions. According to media reports, the checks focused on issues of the use of official expenses, per diems, travel tickets, event organization and the financing of individual federations. In such cases, the competent bodies establish facts through procedures and inquiries, so it is important to distinguish suspicions, media reports and legally established responsibility.
Long-serving president and a mandate that was supposed to last until 2028
Zlatko Mateša had been president of the Croatian Olympic Committee since 2002, according to the official biography of the COC. He spent more than two decades at the head of the umbrella sports organization, and in October 2024 he was re-elected president for the mandate period from 2024 to 2028. According to the COC’s announcement at the time, the electoral procedure for the organization’s leading bodies was conducted at the electoral session of the Assembly, and Mateša received a new four-year mandate. His resignation therefore does not come at the regular end of a mandate, but in the middle of a period for which he had renewed support from the Assembly.
Mateša’s public biography connects political, legal, business and sports careers. According to official data from the Croatian Olympic Committee, he was born on June 17, 1949, in Zagreb, graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, passed the bar exam, earned a master’s degree in the field of social sciences and obtained a doctorate from Beijing Sport University. In political life, he is best known as a former Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, and in the sports system as the long-time head of the COC. Because of the length of his mandate and his extensive institutional connections, his resignation carries weight that goes beyond a personnel change at the top of a single organization.
The Croatian Olympic Committee is the umbrella sports association in the Republic of Croatia and a key institution in relations among national sports federations, the Olympic movement, state financing of sport and international sports bodies. The change at its head opens the question of interim management, convening COC bodies and the possible initiation of procedures for electing new leadership, in accordance with the organization’s acts. It has not yet been officially confirmed which body will carry out the next steps after the president’s resignation, and within what timeframe. In such circumstances, it is especially important that the COC publicly clarify the transitional procedures, because this is an institution through which a significant portion of public needs in sport at the state level passes.
The Ski Association, public money and conclusions of the COC Council
The immediate background to the resignation is connected with the Croatian Ski Association scandal and broader checks of the financial operations of sports organizations. According to media reports, the case resonated particularly strongly with the public because of suspicions of the illegal extraction of large sums from the ski association over a longer period. Public statements and media reports mentioned an amount of around 30 million euros, but responsibility for every specific person and every specific act can be established only by the competent judicial bodies. That is why reporting on such cases must clearly separate suspicions and allegations from officially established facts.
After a thematic session of the COC Council, held several days before Mateša’s resignation, it was announced that no irregularities had been established in the use of funds that the Croatian Ski Association had received from the COC. According to the Council’s conclusions reported by HRT, Index and other media, the COC’s professional control services inspected the manner of spending and justifying funds secured through the Programme of Public Needs in Sport at the state level. The conclusions stated that the funds transferred to the Croatian Ski Association had been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the applicable regulations and legal framework of the Republic of Croatia. At the same time, readiness to assume responsibility was emphasized if the competent bodies establish and prove illegal acts.
Such conclusions did not stop the public debate. Part of the criticism concerned the question of whether internal audits are sufficient in a situation in which trust in the sports system has been damaged. Another part of the debate concerned the role of the COC as an institution that distributes and supervises funds, but also the limits of control over money that federations obtain from other sources, such as sponsorships, donations or their own revenues. In earlier statements, Mateša emphasized precisely this distinction, claiming that the COC cannot control funds that do not come through its programs. Critics of such an explanation, however, raised the question of broader managerial responsibility and reputational damage to sport.
Kustić’s resignation further intensified the crisis
The crisis at the top of the COC deepened further after Marijan Kustić, president of the Croatian Football Federation, resigned from the positions of vice-president and member of the COC Council. According to an HRT report, Kustić withdrew because he was dissatisfied with the way the Committee reacted to the scandals that have shaken Croatian sport in recent months. The media reported that his decision followed a several-hour Council session at which more concrete decisions on responsibility within the organization were expected. Kustić’s withdrawal was also important because it comes from the Croatian Football Federation, the most influential and financially strongest sports federation in the country.
According to reports by sports and newsrooms, some members of the sports system believed that the COC must react more decisively in order to protect the institution’s credibility. Others warned that decisions must not be made before the competent bodies complete their work and before concrete facts are established. That division reflects a broader dilemma in the management of public institutions and organizations that use public funds: how to simultaneously respect the presumption of innocence and ensure political, ethical and managerial responsibility. Mateša’s resignation now changes the dynamics of that debate because it shows that pressure for institutional responsibility has become a decisive political factor in the sports system.
Kustić’s withdrawal and Mateša’s resignation together open the question of relations among the largest sports federations, the leadership of the COC and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport. The COC has traditionally been a place of coordination for Olympic and non-Olympic federations, but also a space in which the interests of different sports, financial models and development priorities intersect. If the crisis continues, it is possible that the greatest pressure will be directed toward convening extraordinary sessions of the competent bodies and more clearly presenting oversight mechanisms. For athletes and coaches, the most important thing is that the institutional crisis does not endanger regular programs, preparations, competitions and the financing of development activities.
New transparency rules in sport
The resignation comes at a time when the Ministry of Tourism and Sport is announcing stricter rules for the management of public money in sport. According to the Ministry’s announcement, Minister Tonči Glavina presented the Regulation on the programme of public needs in sport at the state level, introducing measures to strengthen the transparency of costs, programmes and criteria, as well as systematic records of financial monitoring. The Ministry announced that the new measures are intended to ensure clearer traceability of funds and better insight into the spending of public money. According to media reports, one of the most important changes concerns the visibility of invoices and more detailed monitoring of the expenditures of sports federations.
Such changes are directly connected with the scandals that opened the question of whether the existing oversight model can prevent abuses in time or at least quickly detect irregularities. The Programme of Public Needs in Sport at the state level is an important financial framework through which sports programmes, development projects, competitions, the work of athletes and coaches, and the activities of national federations are supported. If clearer criteria, an obligation for more transparent documentation and systematic monitoring of costs are introduced, this could change the way federations plan, justify and publicly present the use of funds. In practice, the effectiveness of the new rules will depend on implementation, the regularity of controls and the readiness of institutions to react quickly and in a publicly understandable way to detected irregularities.
The COC, according to reports from the Council session, supported the new regulation with the belief that it will contribute to the transparency of the system and more responsible management of public funds. That support now gains additional importance because it comes in a period of institutional change at the top of the Committee. The new or interim leadership will have to show whether the COC can be part of the solution, and not only the subject of oversight and public criticism. For the restoration of trust, formal compliance with rules alone will not be enough; accessible explanations, clear decisions and open communication with athletes, federations and the public will be necessary.
What remains open after Mateša’s departure
Mateša’s resignation does not close the questions that led to the crisis, but moves them into a new phase. The first open question concerns how the COC will organize the transitional period and who will lead the institution until the election of a new president. The second concerns the continuation of checks of financial operations, especially in the parts concerning the relations among the COC, national federations and funds from public sources. The third question concerns the political and managerial responsibility of other officials within the system, including those whose functions are connected with operational financial operations. The fourth question concerns whether the announced changes to the regulation will truly lead to greater transparency or remain at the level of formal obligations.
In his resignation, Mateša said that institutions must be above every individual. That very sentence will now be measured against the actions of the COC, sports federations and state bodies. If it turns out that the system can clearly establish the facts, protect athletes’ programmes and at the same time sanction possible irregularities, the resignation could be the beginning of institutional renewal. If, however, the answers are reduced to postponement, mutual shifting of responsibility and closed procedures, the crisis of trust could continue even after the departure of the man who had led the COC since 2002. For Croatian sport, it is now crucial that it be publicly clarified what happened, who was responsible for what and how every euro of public money intended for sport will be supervised in the future.
Sources:
- Dnevnik.hr – publication and parts of the statement on Zlatko Mateša’s resignation from the post of COC president (link)
- Slobodna Dalmacija – text of the COC statement and context of Zlatko Mateša’s resignation (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – data on the election of Zlatko Mateša for the 2024-2028 mandate period (link)
- Croatian Olympic Committee – official biography of Zlatko Mateša and data on duties in sport (link)
- Index.hr – earlier Mateša statements on responsibility for the financial operations of the COC and USKOK inquiries (link)
- HRT – report on the conclusions of the COC Council and Kustić’s resignation in the COC (link)
- Ministry of Tourism and Sport – announcement of measures to strengthen transparency in the spending of funds in sport (link)