1971–72 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
The 6th World Cup season began in December 1971 in Switzerland and concluded in March 1972 in France. Gustav Thöni of Italy won his second of three consecutive overall titles. Annemarie Pröll of Austria won the women's overall title, her second of five consecutive.
| FIS Alpine Ski World Cup 1971/72 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Discipline | Men | Women | |
| Overall | Gustav Thöni | Annemarie Pröll | |
| Downhill | Bernhard Russi | Annemarie Pröll | |
| Giant slalom | Gustav Thöni | Annemarie Pröll | |
| Slalom | Jean-Noël Augert | Britt Lafforgue | |
| Nations Cup | Switzerland | France | |
| Nations Cup overall | France | ||
| Competition | |||
| Locations | 13 | 12 | |
| Individual | 21 | 21 | |
| Cancelled | 1 | — | |
A break in the schedule in February was for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. Prior to the Olympics, International Olympic Committee head Avery Brundage succeeded in having two-time men's overall World Cup champion Karl Schranz reclassified as a professional and therefore ineligible for the Olympics. Schranz retired from amateur competition immediately thereafter and joined the professional skiing tour in 1973.
The controversy over "professionalism" (based on endorsements, manufacturers' fees, et cetera) continued for two more seasons, and served to limit both participation and the number of events on the World Cup circuit. Prior to the 1975 season, Brundage's successor Lord Killanin led an effort that changed the rule to permit such payments to be made to national associations, which generally eliminated such disputes.