International Volunteer Day is celebrated each year on December 5, with the European University Sports Association extending its utmost gratitude to the numerous volunteers who have and are contributing to the success of the organisation and are representing one of the greatest supports on many EUSA events.

International Volunteers Day is a global observance that celebrates and recognizes the contributions of volunteers worldwide. It serves as an opportunity to applaud the selfless efforts of individuals who dedicate their time and skills to make positive changes in their communities and beyond.

This year, in comparison with other previous years, there is no single theme, but the emphasis is on how volunteers contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 

We are extremely proud that on our sport events, every year there is a great diversity regarding age in our big groups of volunteers that want to put their effort time and their valuabe skills, into making our events one of the best in Europe while learning and gaining new experiences, memories and friendships. 

EUSA is proud, to support a number of volunteer programmes and opportunities, while being immensely appreciative of the generous work done by thousands of volunteers at our Games, Championships and educational events. We also recognise the work of our commission members, who contribute to the work and development of our organisation on a voluntary basis.

As an organisation we try to be part, contribute, and cherish volunteering through numerous projects, seminars, and other educational events, having the volunteers as main actors, pointing out and celebrating the work they do and are willing to do, in many ways possible.

We pay special attention to promotion of volunteering, offering trainings, providing feedback, and issuing certification documents after the events.

In the 2024, Over 800 volunteers, from which around 180 of them were international, contributed to the success of the European Universities Games in Debrecen and Miskolc, and we are extremely proud and grateful for the participation of this great number of volunteers, local and international, as well as for their great support, work and effort put in the organization and implementation of this event.

When it comes to the upcoming season of European Universities Championships in 2025, organised all over Europe, students can participate and support the organisers of the European Universities Championships, including 16 events, covering 21 sports, spread out in 9 European countries, in different cities.  

The open call for registrations for this Volunteering programme will commence in middle of December.

EUSA is extremely happy to continue being a proud partner of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), with several volunteers assisting the activities of the EUSA Office on an annual basis. In 2024 we are happy to say that we hosted two groups of ESC Volunteers.

First group joined EUSA in the beginning of 2023, completing their journey in August 2024, while the second group was welcomed early October 2024, planning to stay with EUSA Office for a period of 1 year. We offer our gratitude to all these volunteers for their help and support in the daily activities of the EUSA office. 

In 2024, the European University Sports Association (EUSA) with the EUSA Institute is also pleased to have hosted and supported two Italian Civil Servise volunteers for a 10-month internship and one Erasmus+ intern/volunteer for 3 months. They ended their EUSA journey in August.

With this, we would like to invite young people all around Europe to follow the future volunteering opportunities, both long-term and short – term and take the chance to join us in the future support and development of volunteering and university sport.

For more information on volunteering, please see www.eusa.eu/projects/volunteering