The German cities of Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Hagen and Berlin will be hosting the 2025 FISU World University Games Summer.
From 16 to 27 July 2025, around 8,500 student-athletes and officials from over 150 countries will compete for medals in 18 sports – making this one of the largest multi-sport events in the world in 2025. And there can be few better-placed hosts: in these exceptionally sport-loving locations, the densest university landscape in Europe meets the most sports clubs in Germany.
The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games stand for a young and modern event with a festival atmosphere: diverse, loud and fun. It will be characterised by rich contrasts and animated visitors, with venues filled and many new friendships formed. We believe in the transformative power of sport, culture and science – and in bringing change and innovation through enthusiastic engagement.
3×3 basketball, beach volleyball and rowing as optional sports
18 to choose from, the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games has something for everyone. The compulsory programme comprises 15 sports: archery, artistic gymnastics, athletics, badminton, basketball, diving, fencing, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, and water polo. The programme is completed by the optional sports of 3×3 basketball, beach volleyball, and rowing. And fir the first time at FISU Games Summer, 3×3 wheelchair basketball will be part of the programme.
A rich cultural offer
The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games will be so much more than a major sporting extravaganza. A diverse and inclusive program of arts and entertainment will bring a festival vibe and a whole lot of fun to every host city. We already know that music star Ayliva will sing at the opening ceremony on 16 July 2025.
An exciting educational part
It’s all in the name: the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games will bring education and sport together with a diverse offering for all ages, making this a multi-sport event like no other. While the FISU World Conference – 17 to 19 July 2025 at the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum – will attract some of the world’s brightest minds, there is an overarching emphasis on inclusivity. That’s why a broad programme including edutainment activities, workshops, tryouts and competitions will engage the leading thinkers of today with the scientists of the future. Children, young adults, parents and grandparents can all find something here.
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Find out more about our future host
Germany
From its beautiful coastline, rolling countryside and rugged mountains, to its cosmopolitan cities, bustling towns and quaint villages, Germany has it all. Home to 84 million people from every imaginable background, Germany sits at the heart of Europe, sharing land borders with nine other nations. The country is a world leader in manufacturing, scientific development and services, while also being rich in natural resources, culture and creativity. Access to education is universal and free, and many of its 100+ universities are among the best in the world.
And then there is sport. Fantastic facilities, broad levels of participation and professional leagues with top clubs who consistently grace the final stages of pan-European competitions: Germany has cultivated an enviable reputation for sporting excellence. And when it comes to staging international extravaganzas, this sport-obsessed country has done them all. Two Olympic Games, a Paralympic Games, a FIFA World Cup and two UEFA European Championships, to name but a few. And now, in the summer of 2025, comes another: the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games. With five host cities in one proud region, this promises to be a Games like no other.
A multi-city region meets a multi-region city
Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, and Mülheim an der Ruhr, plus Hagen and Berlin. The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games features six cities bound together by a shared love of sport, a wealth of top-class universities, and an appetite to put on a show.
Like their people and just like our Games, these cities do not stand still: they regenerate. With a tight radius of 40 kilometres between Duisburg and Bochum, and Berlin easily reachable by fast, direct trains, this will be a FISU Games held in locations like no other, and with a catchment area like no other. Rhine-Ruhr 2025: where a multi-city region meets a multi-region city.
The No.1 state for sport in Germany? With approximately 18,000 professional and local sports clubs with five million active participants, it would be hard to argue against North Rhine-Westphalia. The state hosts more Bundesliga football teams than anywhere else, the world-leading CHIO equestrian centre in Aachen, the annual ‘Final Four’ in handball, biathlon in Schalke, rowing in Duisburg and hockey in Mönchengladbach.
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Million residents in North Rhine-Westphalia
17,9
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Sports Clubs
18,300
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Students
783,000
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University staff members
127,600
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Universities
70
The tale of two rivers
Most of the cities at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games lie on or near the two large waterways which give the event – and the region – its name. The Rhine defines much of the border between Germany and France as it flows north from its source in the Swiss Alps to the Netherlands, where it empties into the North Sea at Rotterdam. At 1,233 km, it is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe (after the Danube).
The Ruhr is a tributary of the Rhine and joins at the right bank of the much larger river in Duisburg. Running to 219km in length from its source in the Sauerland, the Ruhr has undergone significant environmental regeneration in recent years and currently provides drinking water to five million people. The meeting of the two rivers at Duisburg is marked by the largest riverport in Europe.