The General Assembly of the European University Sports Association (EUSA) was held on October 13 in Kusadasi, Türkiye, followed by the EUSA-FISU Strategic Dialogue on the following day, with more than 100 participants in attendance.
The event was opened by EUSA President Adam Roczek, who welcomed all the delegates of the member associations, as well as partners and guests, also thanking the Türkiye University Sport Federation (TUSF) for hosting the event and their hospitality, as well as the International University Sports Federation (FISU) for supporting it. Welcome address was given also by the FISU Acting President Leonz Eder and TUSF President Mehmet Gunay. Representatives of all continental university sports federation greeted the participants as well.
EUSA delegates confirmed the reports for the past two years, presented by its President Roczek and Secretary General Matjaz Pecovnik. They recalled the very successful edition of the European Universities Games which was held in 2022 in Lodz, offering 20 sports, educational, cultural and social programme, attracting 4459 participants representing 417 universities from 37 countries. A wide array of projects was also presented, most of which were co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, and some also supported by FISU.
The current 2023 season for EUSA is already record-breaking, featuring 19 sports, with 5352 participants, composing 982 teams, representing 508 universities from 39 countries in the summer season. This year, EUSA is also introducing 3 championships for winter season – to be held inaugurally in Val di Zoldo in December. Next year, the European Universities Games will be held in Hungary, where athletes representing their universities from all around Europe will be welcomed in the cities and universities of Debrecen and Miskolc. 2024 will also be marked by the 25th anniversary of EUSA, having a special Conference and Gala in Vienna, Austria in November.
The Assembly confirmed and welcomed 82 universities from 17 countries as Associate Members. Symbolically, certificates of memberships were presented to two universities, one from Türkiye and one from Ukraine, received by their rectors. EUSA delegates also confirmed changes to the Statutes and Regulations, aimed towards increasing its good governance.
EUSA-FISU Strategic Dialogue featured two main panel discussions. The first one focused on the future perspectives of university sports, discussing the current achievements and main challenges of university sport and opportunities for the future. Panellists were EUSA President Adam Roczek, FISU Acting President Leonz Eder, FISU America President Alim Maluf Neto, FASU Secretary General Penninah Kabenge and AUSF Representative Jin Liu.
The second main focus of the dialogue was the topic of sustainability of the International and European university sport events. Four organisations contributed to the panel – Tarmo Jaakson from Estonia representing FISU, Andreas Csonka from Switzerland representing EUSA, Peter Juhasz from Hungary representing MEFS and Francis Cirianni from Italy representing FederCUSI.
The EUSA events in Kusadasi also included the Executive Committee meeting, and concluded with a Gala and Awards Ceremony, related to the 2022 season.
For more information, please visit www.eusa.eu.