The origin of football can be found in every corner of geography and history. Long before our era, many cultures played a certain kind of ball game. Contemporary football as we know it today traces back to England in the 1900s, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses. From there on, football experienced an increasing professionalisation and popularity first in Europe and later all over the world. However, it was not until 1966 in Galicia that football was included into the programme of FISU. The first tournament was held in the structure of a European University Championship and eight European teams battled for the first gold medal in university football. During the following years, FISU successfully staged many World University Football Championships, steadily growing in participation figures. At the Summer Universiade in 1979 in Mexico City, football was included as an optional sport and twenty-four teams competed in the tournament. Three years later, FISU staged the final edition of the FISU World University Football Championships, to have football then included as a compulsory sport at the Summer Universiade in 1985 in Kobe (JPN). The greatest surprise at this tournament came from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who took the final against Uruguay.
In 1993, university football was opened for women and Buffalo hosted the first edition of the FISU women’s football tournament where China beat the United States in their home match. In the following years the success of women’s football progressed further. By the time of the Universiade in Beijing in 2001, it was so well-accepted that the Executive Committee of FISU decided to increase the number of women’s teams from 8 to 16, equalling the number of men’s teams. Up to now, the FISU women’s football tournaments are striking for their high level of performance. In Shenzhen in 2011 China beat Japan in a technically fantastic and breathtaking final, delivering a match on the level of a women’s world cup game.
The football tournament will be organised in accordance with the most recent technical regulations of the “Fédération Internationale de Football Association” (FIFA). The programme and duration of the competitions will be fixed by the Executive Committee in agreement with the Organising Committee and the CTI. In principle, the competitions will last eleven (11) days and will include:
The countries participating in the football tournament must bring with their delegation and at their own cost:
Each country selected is authorised to enter one (1) men’s team of a minimum of eighteen (18) and a maximum of twenty (20) players and one (1) women’s team of a minimum of eighteen (18) and a maximum of twenty (20) players.
The Organising Committee must provide suitable facilities to stage the football competition as approved by the Football CT. The FIFA regulations must be followed.
Type of Venue |
Number of Venues |
Changing room competitors |
Changing room TOJR |
Spectator Seating |
Press and Media Seating |
Men’s Pitches Preliminaries |
2 |
4 |
4 |
2,000 |
100 |
Men’s Pitches Finals/Semi-Finals |
2 |
4 |
4 |
10,000 |
100 |
Women’s Pitches Preliminaries |
2 |
4 |
4 |
2,000 |
100 |
Women’s Pitches Finals/Semi- |
2 |
4 |
4 |
10,000 |
100 |
Training |
10 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
Note: eight natural grass competition venues should be provided with a minimum of six (6) floodlit grass pitches.
Wherever possible, ten (10) training pitches must have a natural grass surface.