As founding member of the International Federation for Sports Officials (IFSO), FISU made its former headquarters available for the IFSO General Assembly on 5 October 2023.
The event offered an opportunity to share knowledge and best practices in sports officiating, review thoroughly recent activities and discuss new projects.
During the General Assembly, FISU Sports Director Juan Carlos Holgado, presented the Young Sports Officials Programme. This pilot project was launched at the 2022 FISU University World Cup Combat Sports in Samsun in partnership with the United World Wrestling and was very successful. The idea is to eventually extend the project to the rest of the Combat Sports and, at a later stage, the Championships’ sports programme.
Following the General Assembly, the European Women Sport Officials Forum explored solutions to recruit and retain more women sport officials worldwide and addressed gender equity in sports officiating.
“IFSO is providing a platform to make sports officials’ voice heard. Many promising ideas were exchanged during both events, and we truly look forward to further progress in this field”, said FISU Secretary General and CEO Eric Saintrond.