Portuguese Government Acknowledges the Level of FISU Events

Portuguese university sports is celebrating a remarkable event in its history, with the publication of the legal acknowledgment of FISU Summer and Winter Universiades as sports competitions that allow the official recognition of elite athlete status – a condition in which any high performance athlete in Portugal is considered worthy of public legal support for the prosecution of his/her sports career.

The approved diploma classifies all sport events and defines the criteria to access the categories described by the Portuguese Sports Institute for high performance careers. The inclusion of university sports events in this list is a unique accomplishment that, on one side, recognises the investment made by student-athletes, universities and sports federations, and at the same time acknowledges the level of FISU events as being comparable to the highest quality in the world.

The referred diploma, signed on the 10th June by the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports Laurentino Dias, also allows for the recognition of some World University Championships as high level competitions and therefore also worthy for elite athlete status recognition.

A significant number of initiatives are planned to celebrate FADU’s 20th anniversary in 2010. Portuguese University student-athletes will be surprised with a few more challenges to encourage their full engagement with sport, University Sport and their academic activities.

(Source: Pedro Dias, FISU Assessor)