LAUSANNE – The 2020 World University Championship season is just under five months away and already the plans for 2022 and 2024 will take clear shape over the next week. From 7-11 October, representatives from over 40 prospective host cities will present their bids at the FISU Headquarters in Lausanne.
Hungary’s Viktor Viola in the 2018 WUC Canoe Sprint 500m finalsThe geographical range is wider than ever, with many countries and regions coming back to host an international university sport event after a long time, and even some who are bidding for the first time.
“It is exciting that we have new countries in the mix,” says Julien Carrel, FISU World University Championships Manager. “Our Championships in 2022 and 2024 will reach almost all the regions of the globe.”
“We are happy to have received bids from countries in Africa and the Americas,” he adds. “We have strong interest from Asia and Europe as usual, but this time we also have North American involvement coming through strongly from Lake Placid and Canada.”
New York’s winter sports destination Lake Placid will host the Winter Universiade 2023, and in the lead-up, is looking to host two Championships as test events ahead of the Universiade.
South America is strongly represented by Argentina, Brazil and first-time bidder Costa Rica.
“We are always trying to encourage the development of university sport in our country,” says Ines Gomez (right) of the Argentinian University Sports Federation, FeDUA. “We are a relatively new federation and we decided to bid for one traditional sport that is already well developed in Argentina and one that is not so popular.”
“We want to encourage our universities to try this new sport and develop talent in it,” she adds, keeping her cards close to her chest. “Also, one is a team sport and one an individual sport. We are bidding for sports that are easily accessible and don’t need extensive equipment, so that there is no barrier to participation.”
African countries are led by South Africa, Egypt and Uganda while China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and India will ensure that Asia is well represented on the WUC calendar. Even among European nations, with a strong culture of university sport, there are countries like Greece, Austria, Bulgaria and Belgium who are looking to host a Championship after many years.
The all-new sport of Powerlifting that will make its debut on the FISU sports programme has piqued special interest, with three cities bidding to host its Championship.
For the first time ever, FISU opened a double attribution programme earlier this year, for hosting of its World University Championships and University World Cups in 2022 and 2024. The programme covers more than 30 sports, including those that are already staged in the World Cup format i.e. where university teams compete rather than national squads.
2018 WUC Beach Volleyball was a great successThe presentations from the prospective hosts will be evaluated by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the FISU World University Championships International Technical Committee Marian Dymalski and Fernando Parente, as well as the FISU sports department staff. The bidding dossiers were submitted in advance of next week’s presentations, assessed by the respective sports Technical Committee Chairs and the assessment of the evaluation team will be submitted to the Executive Committee for attribution to take place in early December 2019.
The WUCs and UWCs are FISU’s exciting single sport and cluster competitions that take place every alternate year, barring the University World Cup 3×3, which is held every year. These Championships and Cups give multiple cities a chance to host a world-class sports event with minimum cost and complexity. Through the Championships, FISU collaborates with the international sports federations to test new formats and enhance sports delivery and innovation.
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