Beijing Institute of Technology to take on Mexico State in grand opener

• The first-ever University World Cup – Football is being held in Jinjiang, China in Nov-Dec 2019

• For the first time in history, 24 university teams from around the world will battle it out for the title of ‘World University Champion’

• Finalists from 5 continents came through continental qualifiers

It’s here! The tournament schedule for the first ever University World Cup – Football has been released and the big match to follow the opening ceremony will be contested between the teams from Beijing Institute of Technology and the Autonomous University of Mexico State. The marquee match will witness the two strong teams square off at the impressive Jinjiang Football Park Stadium, custom-built for this event.

The tournament schedule, from 21 November to 1 December will see men’s and women’s matches being played out on alternate days. The event will start with group play in a round-robin format, following which the top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stages. For the eight women’s teams in the fray, this means the top four will directly advance to the semifinals, for the men it will be quarterfinals.

The women’s champions will be crowned on 30 November and the men’s finals will take place in the evening of 1 December 2019.

The women’s competition will kick off on 22 November with a Group A match between Beijing Normal University and Paulista University of Brazil at the Jinjiang Economic Development Zone Stadium. Paulista University from Brazil made it into both, the men’s and women’s competitions – it is the only university to do so.

At the same time, the University of Sydney will take on the University of Lausanne at the Quanzhou College of Technology Stadium. The entire men’s tournament schedule can be found here and the women’s here.

This will be the inaugural edition of the event, one that has already generated much expectant excitement in the world of university sport, with a format that brings the world’s best university teams together, competing for the title of World University Champion.

Tournament schedule

Women’s tournament	Men’s tournament