AIPS Congress: György Szöllősi elected as European Vice President, and Zsuzsa Csisztu as World Vice President

In AIPS’ almost-a-century-long history from 1924, the vice president position has not been held by a fellow compatriot since 1944. Zsuzsa Csisztu is the first woman to hold this position among Hungarian sports journalists as her predecessors are Dr. Gyula Vadas, former owner-editor-in-chief of Nemzeti Sport, and Dr. Mihály Mamusich, former chief editor of Nemzeti Sport, a famous football journalist in Europe between the two world wars. István Gyulai, the unforgettable commentator of Magyar Televízió, held a similarly high position as Secretary General between 1989 and 1992.

"It is a great honor and professional recognition from the international sports journalism world that I was elected by the AIPS global community with the most votes out of the five candidates for vice president. Thirty years of work as a sports journalist have been reflected in this success and I am very happy that, as AIPS Vice President, I will be able to represent our profession in the international community with the same energy and commitment as before and to help Hungarian sports journalism and Hungarian sports diplomacy on the global stage to the best of my ability. I am also happy that AIPS now has two female vice presidents instead of one and that I can continue to help women in our profession to be recognized in the future," Zsuzsa Csisztu said minutes after the election, according to a report on the social media site of MSÚSZ on Wednesday.

Our editor-in-chief, György Szöllősi, has been reelected as Vice President of AIPS Europe. The new Executive Committee, elected on Tuesday morning, held its first meeting in the evening, at which President Charles Camenzuli reappointed György Szöllősi, who has held the post since 2019, as Vice President. The proposal was adopted unanimously by the Executive Committee, which means that the MSÚSZ President will be the sole Vice President of AIPS Europe until 2026. There will still be two Hungarians on the world and European federation directorate, and we managed to further strengthen our international positions in Rome.

"When we joined the AIPS governing bodies five years ago, we said that we wanted to follow in the footsteps of the old Hungarian sports journalists who were there when the organization was founded in Paris in 1924, who organized congresses, held senior positions, and even provided an AIPS headquarter in Budapest for a few years. Since then, we have organized regional, European, and world congresses and the AIPS Sports Media Awards Gala, and we have been elected vice presidents of both the continental and global federations. Congratulations to Presidents Gianni Merlo and Charles Camenzuli, Vice President Zsuzsa Csisztu on their election, and thank you for the support of the Hungarian and almost a hundred other national sports journalist associations," said György Szöllősi, who has led MSÚSZ since 2015, became a member of the AIPS Europe Board in 2017 and Vice President in 2019.

AIPS elected Italian Gianni Merlo, the only candidate, as President for a fifth term, and Turkish Esat Yilmaer as the first Vice President again. In addition to Zsuzsa Csisztu, Iannis Daras from Greece (94 votes), Evelyn Watta of Kenya (93), and Mohammed Hiji Ali from Qatar (89) were elected as Vice Presidents of AIPS. (Mohamed Ould El Hassan of Mauritania did not get the required number of votes (39)). Several candidates withdrew immediately before the vote, following preliminary consultations.

The new Executive Committee is composed of members authorized by the General Assembly: Adel al-Zahrani (Saudi Arabia), Malik Amjad Aziz (Pakistan), Vicente Dattoli (Brazil), Emanuel Fantaneanu (Romania), Gao Chao (China), Josef Langer (Austria), Morad Moutaouakkil (Morocco), Ernesto Ortiz Gómez (Uruguay), Ahmadi Seyed Abdolhamid (Iran), Takeuchi Hiroshi (Japan), Marc Ventouillac (France) and José Zidar (Slovenia).

Hungarian officers in AIPS:
Dr. Mihály Mamusich (Nemzeti Sport): member of the founding committee of AIPS (1923-1924), Vice President (1936-1944)
Dr. Gyula Vadas (Nemzeti Sport): Vice President (1928-1936)
Vilmos Somogyi (Esti Kurir): member of the board (1936-1944)
István Szombathy (Népsport): Deputy Secretary General (1964-1977)
István Gyulai (Magyar Televízió): Deputy Secretary General (1977-1989), Secretary General (1989-1992)
Tamás Gyárfás (Sport Plusz): Deputy Secretary General (1992-1997), member of the Bureau, member of the Executive Committee (1994-1997)
Jenő Boskovics (MTI, Népsport, Foci, Nemzeti Sport): Deputy Secretary General, then Treasurer (1997-2005)
Dezső Dobor (freelance): member of the Executive Committee (2009-2017)
György Szöllősi (Nemzeti Sport): AIPS Europe Executive Committee member (2017-), Vice President (2019-)
Dr. Zsuzsa Csisztu (Mandiner): Executive Committee member (2017-), Vice President (2022-)

Translated by Orosz Vanda