The General Assembly of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) was held today, on October 13 in Kusadasi, Turkiye, with more than 100 participants in attendance.

The event was opened by EUSA President Adam Roczek, who welcomed all the delegates of the member associations, as well as partners and guests, also thanking the Turkiye University Sport Federation (TUSF) for hosting the event and their hospitality.



The participants were also welcomed by TUSF President Mehmet Gunay.

Welcome address was given also by the Acting President of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Leonz Eder.

The President of the European Olympic Committees Spyros Capralos and EACEA Head of Erasmus Mundus and Sport Yves Le Lostecque greeted the audience remotely.

Also representatives of all continental sports federations greeted the participants; on behalf of FISU America its President Alim Maluf Neto, on behalf of Federation of Africa University Sports (FASU) its Secretary General Penninah Kabenge, on behalf of Asian University Sport Federation (AUSF) Jin Liu, and via video address on behalf of FISU Oceania its President David Schmude.

A cultural programme started the event. The General Assembly elected Bruno Barracosa as the Chair of the Assembly, and Kitija Senkane (LAT) and Adam Stigborn (SWE) as scrutineers.

After approval of the agenda, the minutes of the previous General Assembly were confirmed. The Assembly suspended the national university sports association from Malta due to inactivity, and also reconfirmed the temporary suspension of the national university sports associations and universities from Russia and Belarus because of the war and aggression against Ukraine. In addition, a statement of the Executive Committee was given on the organisation’s mission is to promote life and wellbeing through the values of sports and peace, also related to current conflicts and violence in Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh and also Israel. EUSA reject all forms of violence and would like to express our unwavering solidarity with the victims of conflicts in countries that are members of our organization. We stand with all the victims and call for an immediate cessation of violence.

EUSA Executive Committee reported to the Assembly great interest of universities to join the university sport family as EUSA Associated Members, and the Assembly confirmed granting the Status of EUSA Associated Member to 82 universities from 17 countries. Two certificates were symbolically presented to the rectors present at the Assembly. The complete list will soon be updated and available on the EUSA website.

The Executive Committee Report and Accounts for the period 2021-2022 was given by EUSA Secretary General Matjaz Pecovnik and EUSA Treasurer Francis Cirianni. They recalled that unfortunately the European Universities Games in Belgrade were first postponed and then cancelled due to Covid-19. The great success of the European Universities Games Lodz 2022 was highlighted, and also great success of the European Universities Rowing Championship in Istanbul. To recall, the Games were held in the Polish city of Lodz in July 2022. 20 sports were offered, and the event hosted 4459 participants forming 828 university teams, representing 417 universities from 37 countries. The Games also featured several educational, cultural and social events and activities, and received support of the European Union. 2022 sports season also featured the championship in Rowing, which welcomed 534 participants, representing 71 universities from 16 countries. 

Several other activities, projects and educational events were held in this period on the topics of anti-doping, dual career, equal opportunities, good governance, safe-guarding, skills development, mobility, traineeships, volunteering and sustainability. Most of these were co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, and some also supported by FISU.

EUSA members confirmed modifications to the EUSA Statutes and Internal Regulations, related to the general management and good governance, including fairer and more adequate representation, defining more potential conflict of interests and introducing age limit also for elected representatives.

Activity Plan and Provisional Budget 2023-2024 were also presented and discussed. The year 2023 so far already recorded a new record for EUSA, having concluded the very successful summer season of the European Universities Championships in 19 sports, with 5352 participants, composing 982 teams, representing 508  universities from 39 countries. EUSA sports season for this year is not over yet, as the European Universities Winer Sports Championships with Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding, as well as Snow Volleyball as a demo sport is coming up. Registration will be extended to end of October, so more participants will be able to join us for the inaugural winter event in Val di Zoldo this December.

Next year will be the year of the European Universities Games, being hosted by Hungarian cities and universities in Debrecen and Miskolc. The event was presented by Szabolcs Biro, highlighting that the event is More than Games – as the slogan says. In 2024 also the championship in rowing will be held, hosted in Istanbul.

The participants of the EUSA General Assembly also had a time to look into the future years. In 2025, the season of the European Universities Championships will bring at least 21 sports in the summer season; in 2026 the European Universities Games will be held in Salerno, Italy. The Games in Salerno were presented by Lorenzo Lentini and Francis Cirianni.

Bidding for 2027 Championships will open this November. We are extremely excited to share the news that for the European Universities Games 2028 letters of interest was received from 3 cities: Split (CRO), Granada (ESP) and Manisa (TUR). The Games will be attributed in April next year.

EUSA members confirmed the proposal of the Executive Committee to award the highest organisational honorary distinction – the title of EUSA Honorary Member to Lorenz Ursprung, former EUSA Treasurer and to Peter George, long-time EUSA Technical Delegate for Basketball.

European University Sports Association has an institutional Student Representative position in the Executive Committee, meaning that at least one of the voting Executive Committee Members is a student, aged 17-30 upon election. The mandate of the student representative is 2 years, and this year the mandate expired for the student representative Flobena Nikolli, who also acted as Chair of the Student Commission. The Assembly elected Klea Taipllari (ALB) as the new Student Representative in the Executive Committee.

Next year, EUSA will commemorate the 25th anniversary of its existence, and will celebrate its birthday with the special Conference and Gala in Vienna, Austria in November 2024. The plans were presented on behalf of the hosts by the President of the Austrian University Sports Organisation Unisport Austria Hemma Angerer and Georg Denev from the University of Vienna.

Next EUSA General Assembly will be held in 2025, and will be an electoral one, hosted by the Croatian Academic Sport Federation (CASF/HASS) in the city of Zagreb.

EUSA events in Kusadasi continue tomorrow with the EUSA-FISU Strategic Dialogue, EUSA Gala and Awards Ceremony.