On September 30th, the candidate cities that are bidding to host the 2017 Universiades presented their bid books at the Office of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in Brussels, Belgium.

The representatives of the bidding committees were welcomed by the FISU President Mr Claude-Louis Gallien, FISU Vice-Presidents Mr Xinsheng Zhang (CHN), Mr Luciano Cabral (BRA) and Mr Leonz Eder (SUI) and FISU Secretary-General/CEO Mr Eric Saintrond. Mr Saintrond first gave a warm welcome to the delegations, informing them about the bidding procedure and introducing also about the upcoming inspection visits by the evaluation committee.



After Mr. Saintrond’s welcome, President Gallien addressed the delegations of the candidate cities. ‘You give a strong signal to FISU. The fact that you are here presenting your bid book means that you feel ready to host the Universiade, one of the biggest multi-sport events in the world’, Mr. Gallien told the candidate city delegates.



Vice-President Leonz Eder explained the procedure of the Evaluation Committee. ‘We do not only carefully study your bidding documents. On site we evaluate many aspects of the bidding cities, such as support of all levels, transportation, security, venues, accommodation, the general concept of the Games and their legacy’, Mr. Eder explained.



After the formal introductions, the floor was given to the bidding cities to present their bid book. For the Winter Universiade, the bidding cities are Almaty, Kazakhstan and Trentino, Italy. For the Summer Universiade, the bidding cities are Brasilia, Brazil and Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.



In the upcoming months, the Evaluation Committees for the Winter and Summer Universiades will visit the bidding cities for their inspections. On November 29th, the FISU Executive Committee will attribute the 2017 Universiades in Brussels.

(Photos by C. Pierre, FISU)