What’s up FISU: Present and future in mind

These days, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) is all about the Chengdu FISU World University Games.

But what about next month? Next year?

For FISU Acting President Leonz Eder, the Games may very well be the organization’s flagship but there is much more in the plans for the future.

“If you consider the number of top athletes compared to the number of millions and millions of students on campuses, you do great Games for maybe 0.5% of the population of students around the world,” he said.

That is why acting president Eder, secretary general/CEO Eric Saintrond and director general Paulo Ferreira hosted the What’s Up FISU? Conference, which was attended by federation members from over 25 countries.

During the information-filled meeting, Ferreira shed some light on the organization’s priorities for the coming years – and one word kept coming up: sustainability.

“In 2017, sustainability wasn’t a priority, but now, it has come to the forefront,” Ferreira said. “We want sustainability to be at the core of our next host cities.”

Last year, FISU joined the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework. This means the organization committed to reducing its carbon footprint as an entity by 50% by 2030. By 2040, the goal is to be net zero on emissions.

But it is not only the planet’s health that FISU is worried about.

“Millions of students live on campuses around the world, and they deserve good living conditions,” reiterated Eder.

The Healthy Campus program aims to develop and improve the health and well-being of students.

It started during the pandemic to aid the mental health of all homebound youth stuck between online meetings and classes, and a lack of social interaction. Nowadays, however, it covers seven domains, including nutrition, disease prevention, and sporting infrastructure.

Sport, of course, is also a focus for FISU’s future.

But the governing body has its sights on changing the industry of a booming and ever-growing category: e-sports.

“We are running tests, but not with FIFA or videogame basketball where the person is seating. We want them to do actual exercise,” Ferreira said.

FISU is working with consultants to develop a virtual sporting event that could even figure as a World University Championship in the fall of 2024. Athletes will compete in their own country or continent virtually, with the help of artificial reality and intercontinental connectivity.

Saintrond was also very excited about a brand new partnership between FISU and United World Wrestling that debuted during the Samsun FISU University World Cup Combat Sports last September.

As part of the collaboration, university students were trained to be officials in wrestling, but the program will be expanding in the near future.

“No referee, no games!” pointed out Saintrond.

Ferreira also believes that this specific program sums up what FISU does best, which is unite sports and education.

“Our objective here is to start creating the officials of the future. We may not be able to run the 100 metres or do gymnastics, but we can all be officials.”

Written by Pedro Consoli, FISU Young Reporter