Hans von Uthmann was appointed to prepare a preliminary report on whether the Swedish capital should launch a formal bid for the Games.

He has now been proposed by the SOK Nominations Committee to be appointed as its new President to replace Mats Årjes at the Annual General Meeting in Stockholm on April 20, the same day he is due to present his report on the Olympic bid.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had previously said he would wait to study the report before deciding whether the Government would support a bid, which is widely seen as having an outstanding chance if it goes ahead against a field lacking a credible candidate.

Von Uthmann, the former President of the Swedish Basketball Association, was appointed as the SOK acting vice-president last year having.

He has served on the Board for 12 years having held a number of management positions in companies such as Svenska Shell, paper cup and napkins company Duni and power company Vattenfall.

Årjes announced last November he was stepping aside, despite having two-years of his term left, after being charged with sexual harassment, which he denies.

"There is a general election in two years for the position of President and of the proposed candidates, we believe Hans is the right person with the breadth of board experience in both sports and business that he possesses," Patrik Tengwall, head of the SOK Nominations Committee, said.

Head of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association's Anders Larsson is currently the SOK’s Acting President.

The Nominations Committee have also proposed four members for the SOK Board, including the re-election of Olle Dahlin, President of the International Biathlon Union.

Eva-Lena Frick, President of the Swedish Ski Association, is another nomination.

The others are Carina Olsson and Fredrik Rapp, the head of archery and handball in Sweden.

"It is important to have both continuity and renewal in a Board," Tengwell said.

"In combination with Hans, we propose three new elections and one re-election among the members.

"They are all strong sports leaders with different interesting profiles, backgrounds and characteristics that we believe can contribute to different perspectives.

"We propose five competent individuals, but above all a team that together will make up SOK's board in the coming years."

Sweden has bid for the Winter Olympics eight previous times, including for 2026 when they were beaten by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.

But this time, the path seems to be clear with the favourite Japanese city Sapporo, suffering declining public support due to a bribery scandal linked to the re-arranged Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Vancouver, hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics, lack political support and Salt Lake City, who staged it in 2002, have already made it clear they would prefer to host the event in 2034 to avoid a clash with Los Angeles 2028.