Born in Fribourg, Switzerland, Fasel started his playing career with the Swiss league team HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 1960. He remained with the team until 1972 and retired to become a referee. He remained a referee until 1982 and officiated 37 international matches. In 1982 he became the Chairman of the Swiss Ice Hockey League referees' commission. In 1985, he became president of the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband, Switzerland's governing body for ice hockey. He was elected to the IIHF council the following year and served as head of the Referee and the Marketing Committees. In June 1994, he was elected the President of the IIHF, succeeding Günther Sabetzki. He has served four consecutive terms as President. His most recent started at the IIHF congress in May 2008 when he was unopposed in his re-election attempt. As IIHF president, Fasel has tried to forge a stronger relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League, the major professional ice hockey league of North America. In March 1995, he helped negotiate an agreement so that NHL players could compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He has also vowed to "work day and night" to help negotiate an agreement that will see NHL players participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics. He is against fighting in ice hockey, describing it as "Neanderthal behavior". In 1992 he became a member of the Swiss Olympic Association. In 1995 he became a member of the InternationalOlympic Committee. He was the first ever representative of ice hockey. As an IOC member, he has held several positions, including Chairman of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympics. In May 2008, Fasel was nominated to replace Ottavio Cinquanta as the winter sports representative on the IOC's executive board. He was named to the board on 7 August at the 120th IOC Session held before the 2008 Summer Olympics and served an eight-year term until 2016 when he was replaced by Gian-Franco Kasper. Fasel spoke at the World Hockey Summit in 2010, and discussed the National Hockey League presence in Europe and in ice hockey at the Olympic Games, and was defensive of European hockey. He was against NHL expansion plans into Europe, and envisioned a European professional league, where the champion would play the Stanley Cup winner for a world title. He sought to keep NHL participation at the Winter Olympics due to its profitability and exposure for international hockey.
