PDGA Europe board election pits three candidates for open seats

Three seats, three candidates, and a board that controls policy, staffing, and money, that is the real vote PDGA Europe members face. Ballots run from July 1 through July 31, 2026, and the three highest vote-getters will begin three-year terms on September 1, 2026, in a race that lands on a membership base of 21,444 active Europeans at the end of 2025, down from 21,579 a year earlier.

This is not a ceremonial job. PDGA Europe says directors should expect about 15 hours a month of work, built around monthly teleconference calls, an annual in-person summit, and the annual general meeting teleconference. The board’s actual job description is blunt: set priorities, supervise staff, manage finances and the annual budget, identify future board candidates, represent the membership, and keep driving the sport’s growth across the continent.

If voters are looking for institutional memory, Gerd Albert Biesterfeld is the clearest résumé pick by a mile. He says he began Frisbee practice in 1972, helped found the Swedish Frisbee Association in 1974, represented Sweden at the 1977 and 1978 Frisbee World Championships at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and has served on the Swedish Frisbee Sports Association board for more than 15 years. He also says he helped arrange about 20 competitions in Europe, was involved in producing the first Scandinavian Frisbee Disc Golf baskets in 1979, built more than 20 courses around Sweden and Europe, and has TD experience at more than 50 tournaments. For a board that oversees development, that is not nostalgia, it is operational muscle.

PDGA Europe itself is still young by governance standards, even if the sport’s roots run deep. The organization was established in 2006, its first board took office in 2017, it was officially registered in Finland in 2019, opened a Helsinki office in 2021, and became fully operational in 2022 after the first strategic plan was completed under Board Vice President William Woodward. The affiliate map now stretches from Austria and Belgium to Sweden and Ukraine, which is why this election reaches far beyond one country or one course.

The ballot mechanics matter too. PDGA says members current as of June 25, 2026, with valid email addresses will receive online voting instructions, and ballots will keep going out weekly to members who have not yet voted. Those without internet access can request a mailed paper ballot by July 20. In a year when three candidates are filling three open at-large seats, the decision is less about eliminating names and more about choosing the mix of experience and direction that can keep European disc golf growing without losing its footing.