University Sports did not go unnoticed at the annual SportAccord Convention which gathered the representatives of the international sports world in the beautiful and historic city of St. Petersburg, Russia from May 27th to 29th, 2013.

Members of the International Olympic Committee, International Sports Federations, host cities bidding to stage global sporting events, businesses directly or indirectly related to the sporting world came together in Saint-Petersburg to discuss, forge or strengthen special relationships. Conferences, official meetings and the SportAccord General Assembly were at the center of the many activities on the agenda of the convention participants.

The SportAccord Convention was also an opportunity for FISU to welcome at its information booth it shared with Almaty, host city of the 2017 Winter Universiade, the decision makers of the international sports world. Therefore an important FISU delegation was present in Saint-Petersburg: President Mr Claude-Louis Gallien, First Vice-President Mr Oleg Matysin, Assessor Mr David Cabello and FISU Directors Mr Paulo Ferreira (World University Championships), Mr Milan Augustin (Winter Universiade), Mr Marc Vandenplas (Summer Universiade), Mrs Vanessa Aiello (Marketing) and Mr Dejan Susovic (Media & Broadcasting). On Thursday morning, a press conference set up by FISU partner Eurosport, allowed Secretary-General/CEO Eric Saintrond to present FISU and the upcoming Universiade in Kazan to the media present. Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Mr Vitaly Mutko and State-Secretary and Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Mrs Natalia Parshikova also visited the FISU booth.

Besides the FISU booth, some of the host cities or candidates - Gwangju (2015 SU), Kazan (2013 SU) and Krasnoyarsk (Candidate 2019 WU) - had their own booth which also received attention of many participants during a week that has confirmed the increased popularity of international university sport.