EUSA Executive Committee meets in Istanbul

The second Executive Committee meeting of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) in 2022 was held in the Turkish historic and economic hub Istanbul on October 14 and 15, hosted by the Turkish University Sports Federation (TUSF).

Members of the Executive Committee, representative of the Auditors and EUSA Staff were welcomed in Istanbul by TUSF President Mr Mehmet Gunay and Marketing Consultant Mr Suleyman Kocasert.

EUSA President Mr Adam Roczek started the meeting, thanking the local hosts and greeting all the participants of the meeting. The meeting started with a general overview of activities and office report, presented by EUSA Secretary General Mr Matjaz Pecovnik. He highlighted the main achievements of the organisation in the past period this summer, especially the successful organisation of the European Universities Games Lodz 2022 and the European Universities Rowing Championship Istanbul 2022.

The European Universities Games Lodz 2022 (EUG2022) were then presented in more details also by the EUSA Sports Manager Mr Miha Zvan. The impressive event attracted 4459 participants, representing 422 universities from 38 countries, coming together to compete in 20 sports and enjoy educational and cultural programme.

The EUG2022 were co-hosted by the Lodz University of Technology, University Sports Association of Poland (AZS) and City of Lodz, in cooperation with the EUSA Institute and several partners, including the Ministry of Education and Science, national and local tourism organisations, Polish Olympic Committee, national and local sports organisation, media outlets and is also supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Representatives of the Organising Committee – Mr Dominik Lezanski and Ms Iwona Neroj presented the final report of the Games. They highlighted the main achievements, successes and legacy, as well as challenges and recommendations for future events.

Special achievement was also the support of EUSA and Club od Donors, who – in cooperation with the local Organising Committee – supported 285 participants from Ukraine who took part in 16 sports.

Also the second EUSA-licensed sports event in 2022 was presented – the European Universities Rowing Championship, presented by Assistant Sport Manager Mr Mariano Carcatella. The event welcomed 534 participants, representing 71 universities from 16 countries. 20 races in all boat classes were held, from single sculls to eights.

Looking ahead, the upcoming season of the European Universities Championship 2023 was discussed. Next year, Championships will be organised in 20 sports, and will be hosted in 15 cities all across Europe. As a novelty, EUSA will launch the European Universities Winter Sports Championship. The first edition is proposed to be held in mid December 2023. Details will be discussed in the following months, and presented to the EUSA members and made publicly available as well.

Besides the 2023 Championships, also the next editions of the European Universities Games were discussed; namely the 2024 edition Debrecen-Miskolc in Hungary, and the 2026 edition Salerno in Italy. EUSA Executive Committee also opened the bidding procedure for the 2028 edition of the European Universities Games. Interested parties should contact the EUSA Office; deadline to submit the letters of intention is set to end of September 2023, and the event is planned to be attributed in spring 2024.

The events under the EUSA Patronage in the current year were presented as well, with the European Open University Powerlifting Cup in May (Hamm, LUX), International Rowing Regatta Sveti Duje in May (Split, CRO), SELL Games in May (Riga, LAT), Friendship Games in June (Eilat, ISR) - and coming up International Student Christmas Tournament in December (Dubrovnik, CRO).

The International University Sports Federation (FISU) will organise in 2022 and 2023 two World University Cups where EUSA sporting events acts as qualifiers – the FISU World University Cup in 3x3 Basketball – to be held October 27-29 in Istanbul (TUR) and Football – to be held in 2023 in Jinjiang (CHN). Based on the results and achievements at the European Universities Games 2022, European university teams qualified for these events in 2022/2023.

Projects supported by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) were presented by EUSA Secretary General and those supported by the European Union were presented by EUSA Communications and Projects Manager Mr Andrej Pisl. EUSA, through its Institute, is currently leading the Inclusion in Sport (iSport) project, and co-funding has also been received for the last edition of the European Universities Games, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. EUSA Institute is also a partner on several other Erasmus+ projects, on the topics of dual career: Brand Value Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA), Micro Learning Entrepreneurship for Athletes (MLEA); good governance: (Uni)ted forces to support the education of (Uni)versity sport comm(Uni)ty (Uni4S), Be(ach) Volunteer, Be(ach) Fair! (VolFair), Youth Integrity Ambassador Program (YIAP); social inclusion and equal opportunities: Promoting Gender Equality in Sports (PROGRES), Innovating Football Leadership: Inclusion through Policy and Practice (iFlipp); sustainability: Green Sports Hub Europe (GSHE); volunteering: Work for a cause, serve for sport (W4C), Future volunteers - Key to success is Generation Z (K2S-GenZ); Erasmus+ Internship and European Solidarity Corps. EUSA was also one of the invited organisations to nominate youth delegates and ambassadors for the Healthy Lifestyle For All initiative and Youth Ideas Labs, which were launched in the European Year of Youth at the occasion of the EU Sport Forum in June, and concluded with six recommendations at the occasion of the opening of the European Week of Sport in September.

The educational events and meetings were presented by EUSA Education and Development Manager Ms Sara Rozman. Apart from educational events during the European Universities Games, EUSA hosted a successful Convention in September, targeting organisers of the European Universities Championships 2023 and Technical Commission. The event was also used to celebrate the European Week of Sport with #BeActive and #HealthyLifestyle4All campaigns by the European Commission, as well as the International Day of University Sport with the #LetsIDUS campaign, initiated by FISU. The members also confirmed the dates and locations of the upcoming events: EUSA webinar for members (online: December 1, 2022), EUSA-FISU Seminar (Val Di Zoldo, ITA: March 23-26, 2023) and General Assembly with EUSA-FISU Strategic Dialogue (Kusadasi/Aydin, TUR: October 12-15, 2023).

Reports from EUSA member federations, FISU and continental federations, as well as partner and other organisations were also presented before the Chairs and Secretaries of the Student Commission, Inclusion and Diversity Commission, and Education Commission shared their reports.

EUSA Executive Committee members also confirmed adaptations to the EUSA events regulations, and fees adjustments. EUSA Treasurer Mr Francis Cirianni presented the treasurer report and interim budget realisation for the current year.

The participants also enjoyed innovative sporting activities, sightseeing tours, as well as local culinary specialties, reflecting the traditional hospitality and variety of Istanbul and Turkiye.

National University Sports Associations - EUSA members will receive more information about key decisions and opportunities in the following days. EUSA would like to thank the Turkish University Sports Federation for the hospitality and hosting the meeting. Organisation of the meeting was also supported by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

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