On October 2nd the 7th edition of the University Sports Gala organized by the Portuguese Academic Federation of University Sport (FADU) took place in Lisbon. In celebration of university sports season 2013/14, University of Minho and University of Coimbra were the big winners of the night. More than 250 people attended to this event, held in Thalia Theatre, in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

The University Sports Gala is an event considered by many as the culmination of all the good times of the season, honoring and recognizing those who contributed to the development of sports in the higher education.



At the ceremony, three awards "Best of the Year" were won by University of Minho. The award for Best Coach of the Year was awarded to Gabriel Oliveira, Handball Coach of the male team of Minho and he was also, this year, Head Coach of the National University team. Minho’s team was also the winner for Best Male Team after a brilliant season, winning for the sixth consecutive time the national university championship and for the third time the European Universities Championship.



Fabio Vidrago (U.Minho) was considered as the Best Male Athlete, after being National, European and World University Champion, and considered the Best Handball Player and Top Scorer of the 2nd European Universities Games (EUG - EUGames). The award for Best Female Athlete was awarded to Ana Moura, Badminton athlete of University of Coimbra, who won the title in team’s competition of National University Champion and the bronze individual medal in the EUGames Rotterdam 2014. Coimbra also received the award for Best Female Team won by the Futsal team, National University Champion and Bronze medallist in the EUGames 2014.

There was also time for the speeches by the Secretary of State for Higher Education, José Ferreira Gomes, the President of the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth, Augusto Baganha, and the President of FADU, Filipa Godinho. These speeches were guided by the “several challenges", showing a "willingness and motivation to continue working to do better," as stated Filipa Godinho.



José Ferreira Gomes congratulated the success that FADU has been in the university sports environment but he also said that “there is so much to do… This job is not over until all the 400.000 Portuguese students are involved in University Sports".

During the Gala were also honored the medalists of international events and the Organizing Committees of the five major sports events held this year in Portugal, both national and international. This year Portugal won six more medals in international competitions. Two gold medals to the male National University Handball team and the Minho’s Handball male team, one silver medal to André Pereira in EUG Rowing competition, and three bronze medals, all won at EUG 2014, by University of Porto Rugby female team, University of Coimbra Futsal female team and Ana Moura (U.Coimbra) in the Badminton individual competition.



FADU also attributed the Prestige Awards, highlighting, this time, the work of Carlos Magalhães, member since 2003 of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Medical Commission, and the two regional structures that organize the regional championships in Lisbon and Porto, respectively the Sports Association of Lisbon Higher Education (ADESL) and the Academic Federation of Porto (FAP).

At this ceremony was also handed the Prize for Ethics in Sports, in partnership with the National Plan for Ethics in Sport, to the volunteers of the five major competitions that took place in Portugal and the Portuguese volunteers that were at the EUGames 2014, for their work and dedication to the University Sports.



The 7th University Sports Gala was also the time to give the Trophy of Best National University to University of Porto, which earned the best score in all the FADU competitions 2013/2014.