EUSA Convention and EUSA-FISU seminar 2024 successfully concludes

The EUSA Convention and EUSA-FISU seminar 2024 were successfully held in Salerno, Italy. These two events, held simultaneously for the first time, gathered more than 100 people, including EUSA and FISU representatives, members of EUSA Technical Commission, future Organizing Committees of the upcoming European Universities Championships 2025, and other delegates.

On the 11th of October, the programme of EUSA Convention and EUSA-FISU Seminar moved to the University of Salerno, where participants were greeted by Maurizio Sibilio, Vice-Rector of the University of Salerno and Fulvio Bonavitacola, Vice-President of the Campania Region. Lorenzo Lentini, President of CUS Salerno, spoke emphasising the importance of hosting these two events, as well as the upcoming EUSA and FISU Games. Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA Secretary General, also brought greetings and spoke of the great work done up to now and to be done in the future with EUSA sport events.

The official program was then kicked off with a range of presentations, giving insight into different parts of the Guidelines for Successful Organisation of the EUSA European Universities Championships, introduced by Liam Smith, EUSA Events Manager. These included:

• Miha Zvan, EUSA Sports Manager, presenting important information and documents related to the future European Universities Championships 2025.
• Eszter Gulyas, EUSA Sports Coordinator on the process of the planning of European University Championships (EUCs), including the importance of progress reports and inspection visits in the planning of EUCs in 2025.
• The topic for Salvatore Sisca, EUSA Head of Media and Communications, was the importance of consistency and collaboration in building a better and stronger visual identity and communication process.
• Hristina Hristova, EUSA Communications Officer, covered the importance of volunteers and volunteer management in the organisation and implementation of sports events.
• A short overview of the result management & live streaming system was given by Liam Smith, sharing insights into how the system works and supports event operations.
• Aleksandra Andreeva, EUSA Sports Administrator, presented about the registration process and accreditation system, including registration timelines and the steps in the process.
• Concluding the day’s official programme were useful insights on protocol and hospitality given by Sara Rozman, EUSA Education and Development Manager.

Best practices from the 2023 European Universities Championships season were also presented. Pablo Martinez, EUSA Technical Delegate for volleyball, spoke about last year’s EUC of Volleyball in Braga, Portugal, and Jordi Mercade Torres presented about the EUC in Tennis, organised last year in Granada, Spain.

The final day of the official programme continued with presentations from the organising committees for upcoming 2025 European Universities Championships. A subsequent session saw EUSA Projects and Policy Manager Andrej Pisl present the about EU Funding of University Sports Events and Projects. Stefan Bergh, Chair of FISU Committee for Development of University Sport and ENGSO President, provided video greetings to introduce the session. Case studies of the Erasmus+ Sport Cooperation partnership DiscoverU and Erasmus+ Youth & Youth Workers Exchange were also outlined.

The next part of the programme focused on the future of FISU and EUSA Games, moderated by Sara Rozman. This session included FISU Development and NUSF Relations Manager, Tarmo Jaakson, presenting about the Torino 2025 FISU World University Games Winter, and Joerg Foerster, President of the German University Sports Federation (ADH), speaking about the Rhine Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games Summer.

Lorenzo Lentini, and Francis M. M. Cirianni, EUSA Treasurer, then highlighted the next edition of the European Universities Games taking place in Salerno in 2026. Representatives from the Split 2028 and Granada 2030 editions of the European Universities Games, also provided initial insights into what is planned for future Games.

Moderated by Filipa Godinho, Pro-Rector of the University of Coimbra, a closing panel took place including Bruno Barracosa, EUSA Vice President and Fernando Parente, FISU Development & Healthy Campus Director. Presentations from both gentlemen focused on important EUSA and FISU programmes involving partnerships and support for universities, like EUSA’s Associated Members programme and FISU’s Healthy Campus programme.

The event wrapped with closing words given by EUSA President Adam Roczek and FISU President Leonz Eder, both pointing out the value of both organisations in the university sports world and how the significant collaboration between them both can grow development of university sport in Europe and beyond.

Additonal information available . Photographs and original article courtesy European University Sports Association