Executive Committee members of the European University Sports Association (EUSA), office staff members, and invited delegates met on November 15 in Vienna, Austria.

The second in-person EC Meeting for 2024 has been hosted by the Austrian University Sports Organisation and the University of Vienna and leads to the EUSA Conference and EUSA 25th Anniversary Gala, which will be held on Saturday, November 16.

EUSA Family members were welcomed by the representative of the hosts the President of the Austrian University Sports Organisation, Ms Hemma Angerer, who gave an insightful presentation about the beginnings of university sports at the University of Vienna.

EUSA President Adam Roczek thanked the host institution for the invitation and the hospitality, highlighting the strong and historic connection between EUSA and the city of Vienna, where the European University Sports Association was funded in 1999: a token of appreciation was presented to Ms Angerer, to mark this link and thank the hosts for the great cooperation and planning of the event.

The participants were then given a general overview of activities and office report, presented by EUSA Secretary General, Mr Matjaz Pecovnik. He underscored the organization's principal accomplishments during the preceding period, with particular emphasis on the highly successful year and the significant accomplishment which was last summer's 7th edition of EUSA European Universities Games in Debrecen-Miskolc (HUN).

Mr Pecovnik went through all the attributions of EUSA events until 2030, focusing on strong partners, successful use of new procedures and exciting views for the future, based on the educational events and EU projects achievements and opportunities.

An overview of the financial report, the realization of the budget 2023-2024, and details around the EUSA Development Fund 2024 were then presented by EUSA Treasurer Francis Cirianni.

On behalf of the Sports Department, EUSA Sports Manager Miha Zvan and EUSA Event Manager Liam Smith presented a series of reports, starting with the successful European Universities Rowing Championship Zagreb 2024 and the calendar of next summer's Championships, together with their attributions, progress reports and inspection visits.

Before going through the attribution plan for the 2027 edition, also the 2026 edition of the European Universities Rowing Championship has been attributed to Zagreb.

Then it was the turn of the extensive report on the EUG 2024, with its highlights, its challenges, its great lessons learnt and its legacies. Details about the sports competition, as well as all the other complementary aspects such as accommodation, catering, transportation, communications, security, hospitality, social activities and volunteers management, have been unravelled in detail.

The final report and other important information regarding the European Universities Games 2026 were also shared.
The Sports Events part of the meeting concluded with reports about EUSA-endorsed partnership events, such as EUSA Patronage and Cups and FISU World University Leagues and Cups.

The topic of educational events and activities was presented by EUSA Education and Development Manager, Ms Sara Rozman, including the EUG 2024 educational activities, EUSA-FISU Seminar and Convention, the upcoming EUSA Conference and Gala.

Projects and initiatives co-funded by the European Union (EU) through the Erasmus+ Programme and European Solidarity Corps (ESC) were presented by EUSA Projects and Policy Manager, Mr Andrej Pisl.

EUSA is engaged in several projects and, through its institute, currently leads several EU-funded projects: Enhancing sports organizations and management (ESOM), Discovering University Sport and Supporting Dual Career (DiscoverU), Youth Individual Sports Mindset (YouMind), Mobility of youth and youth workers, as well as European Solidarity Corps - volunteering. All the partnership projects and their, progresses, highlights and successes were deeply explained, together with their financial impact and extremely important networking value for all EUSA activities.

The International Cooperation part of the meeting was presented by Mr Pecovnik, who reported on the EUSA Associated Members programme and EUSA Members and partner federations situation.

Then the discussion veered to the general Internal Matters, such as the reports of EUSA Education, Student and Marketing commissions, auditors, and statutory working groups. This part of the meeting was presented by the respective Chairs and representatives, with a significant approval of the new EUSA branding, which will see the light soon marking EUSA's constant aim of being a modern and future-oriented organization.

The last point of the Executive Committee Meeting discussion was about the future Executive Committee Meetings and EUSA institutional events such as next General Assembly in Zagreb, evaluating calendar and opportunities for the upcoming reunions of EUSA family and members.

Tomorrow, Saturday, November 16, the EUSA gathering will continue with the EUSA Conference and EUSA 25th Anniversary Gala dinner, celebrating this important milestone.