Over the course of four days, more than 1,500 student-athletes from 23 higher education institutions competed in twelve sports disciplines during the UniSport Croatia 2025 Finals.
Croatia’s national university sports championship and the central event of Croatian academic sports was joint to “4 Healthy Academic Society” a high level three-day international conference. FISU President Leonz Eder and FISU Executive Committee Member Sami A. Garabedian joined Croatian FISU Executive Committee Member Marko Zunic in taking part to both events.
Meetings and ceremonies
Leonz Eder addressed the participants during the opening ceremony: “Dear student.athletes, you embody FISU’s motto: excellence in mind and body. You are the ambassadors for dual-careers, and as future leaders in society, you are our hope for a better, above all more peaceful future, in which respect for fellow human beings and for nature is at the center. I wish you every success in the sporting competitions, but above all I wish you joy and fun during this weekend in Porec.”
As expected, team sports attracted the most attention from spectators and the Universities of Split and Zagreb won most medals.
Sport
Preceding the competitive part of the event was a three-day international conference, 4 Healthy Academic Society (4HAS), held from May 28 to 30. It brought together researchers from over 70 higher education institutions across four continents. The conference featured around forty peer-reviewed papers, six invited lectures, and two strategic discussions. The first discussion, involving both sports and academic community representatives, focused on funding models and the sustainability of university sports infrastructure. The second addressed the risks of cardio-renal-metabolic syndrome in the student population.
Meanwhile, the UniSport Health programme was carried out in the student sports village. The initiative, titled “Hunt for the Silent Killer” and organised in partnership with the Croatian Hypertension League, provided hundreds of free blood pressure and glucose screenings. “Play Safe” workshops gave students hands-on demonstrations in CPR and bandaging techniques.
“The Finals have once again proven that Croatia can successfully combine elite student sports, international science, and public health into an event that transcends university campuses. I thank all the athletes, professors, doctors, and volunteers. We are taking the experience from Poreč to Split, where in 2028, as hosts of the European Universities Games, we’ll raise the bar even higher and show Europe what a complete academic sports story looks like,” concluded Haris Pavletić, President of the Croatian Academic Sports Federation.
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