On Thursday, January 23, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) organised an online kickoff meeting for coordinators of the Erasmus+ projects in the field of sport, accepted for funding in the 2024 call.

302 proposals in the field of sport from the 2024 Erasmus+ call for funding have received financial support from centralised actions: 100 Cooperation partnerships, 169 Small-scale partnerships, 22 European sport events and 11 Capacity building in the field of sport. Among these, European University Sports Association (EUSA) with the EUSA Institute, was granted funding for small cooperation partnership project "FUSION - Future links for University athletes with Sports clubs Integrating Organised Networks", tacking sport dropout and physical inactivity for higher education students. EUSA Institute also partners in the new project "Runners4All - Runners for All - European Students run", focusing on Health-enhancing physical activity and holistic lifelong healthy habits for students across Europe. All the selected projects are co-funded by the European Union.

The online Erasmus+ Sport Kick Off meeting was opened by Theo Duivenvoorde, Head of Erasmus+ Mundus & Sport Unit at the EACEA who stressed that with more than 1700 applications in the past year’s call, the funding opportunities within Erasmus+ programme for sport-related actions are getting more visibility and interest. The project selected for (co-)funding by the European Union therefore showcase relevance to the EU priorities, work programme for the implementation of Erasmus+: the Union Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, and EU work plan for sport.

The event was held in two sessions, in the first session the project coordinators were given information how to best start the projects, including how to communicate with the designated project officers, how to liaise with project partners and what to report during the project implementation.

In the second session, the participants were able to find out what to do in case changes or issues arise during the project lifecycle and how to make sure the final reports reflect the results and activities of the project.

Both sessions also included interactive parts and had a question & answers parts. The event was wrapped up with the conclusions by Luciano Di Fonzo, Deputy Head of Erasmus+ Mundus & Sport Unit at EACEA.

EUSA Institute is proud to be an active partner in several projects, supported by Erasmus+ programme and co-funded by the European Union. Together with our members (national university sport bodies), associate members (universities and higher education institutions), strategic and project partners, we remain committed to development of sport and its values, with a special focus on university sport.

For more information about sport and funding opportunities within the European Union, please see https://sport.ec.europa.eu; and for information about EUSA projects, please see https://www.eusa.eu/projects/.