On 31 December 2025, after 16 years of continuous responsibility on the ÖSBV executive board – initially as Sports Director and, since 2016, also as President – Christian Fock stepped down from his presidential positions and, at the turn of the year, handed over the presidency to the previous Vice President and (continuing) Sports Director, Patrick Stegmeier.


Christian Fock, outgoing ÖSBV President; © ÖSBV


Patrick Stegmeier, ÖSBV President from January 2026; © ÖSBV

This change in the board took place in an orderly manner and was also addressed at several ÖSBV events over recent months; to this end, the ÖSBV executive board carried out a co-optation on 29 December 2025.

Dear Christian, thank you very much for your more than dedicated and conscientious leadership of the association over all these many years. Behind the positions you held for so long lies not only personal commitment and a great deal of effort, but above all an enormous amount of time – the most valuable asset of our lives. Having devoted this to the association to such an extent is more than sufficient reason to thank you most sincerely for everything.

The successes and progress of the past 16 years that the association has been able to experience on both a sporting and a structural level are the reward for the good and diligent work you carried out in your offices, both independently and together with the teams you led within the ÖSBV. We are very pleased that you will remain with the association behind the scenes in an advisory and supportive role (rankings, Online Sports Directorate), and we now wish you, from a different perspective, much enjoyment in the selected activities surrounding domestic Snooker and Billiards sport, including serving as a referee in both disciplines.

Alongside his duties on the executive board as President and Deputy Sports Director, Christian Fock, a Snooker examiner and Class 1 referee in Billiards, also served until the end of 2025 as tutor for Snooker, and a first-instance disciplinary body. As tutor of Snooker, Christian’s successor will be Erich Pließnig from Carinthia, himself a Snooker examiner with extensive international experience as part of the extended World Snooker Tour (WST) referees team.


Erich Pließnig, ÖSBV Tutor Snooker from January 2026; © WPBSA

Since there has been a change in the presidency, as of 1 January the ÖSBV also sent an invitation to all clubs to an extraordinary delegates’ assembly in order to be able to vote promptly on the co-optation that was carried out. This will be held online via Zoom on 5 February 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

As of today, the ÖSBV Board is composed as follows:
President & Sports Director: Patrick Stegmeier
Treasurer: Josef Wimmer
National Coach: Chau Zi Kim

We look forward to continuing our national and international cooperation with joy and dedication, in the best sporting spirit.

Best wishes to all our partners and followers for 2026!

Your ÖSBV Team