Reto Stiffler (25 February 1939 – 10 January 2025) was a Swiss businessman. He was 14th president of the football club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

Life and career

Born in Davos in 1939 Stiffler played ice hockey in his youth. He studied hotel management in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and was owner of the Hôtel Club in

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

. In the late 1990s, when Standard Liège was facing financial trouble, businessman

Robert Louis-Dreyfus Robert Louis-Dreyfus ( – ) was a French businessman who was chief executive officer (CEO) of Adidas (then Adidas Salomon) and Saatchi & Saatchi. He was a majority shareholder of the French football team Marseille, and during his tenure th ...

saved the team from bankruptcy at the request of , who entrusted the presidency to Stiffler. He succeeded in October 2000 after his involvement in the rescue of

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

in the early 1990s. Despite his role as president of Standard Liège, he continued to live in Davos, which let to Lucien D'Onofrio taking the vice-presidency. Under Stiffler, the club won great respect, winning the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. The team also won the

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

and

. Additionally the team won the 2011 Belgian Cup. After the death of Robert Louis-Dreyfus, his wife,

Margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the rock ...

, decided to sell her shares of the club for €40 million to

Roland Duchâtelet Roland Duchâtelet (; born 14 November 1946) is a Belgian businessman and politician. He is owner of various football clubs. He is the founder of the social-liberal political party Vivant in Belgium. Business In 1990, he became involved in mi ...

. Consequently, Stiffler left the club. Stiffler died on 10 January 2025, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stiffer, Reto 1939 births 2025 deaths Swiss businesspeople Swiss football chairmen and investors People from Davos