The European University Sports Association (EUSA) Executive Committee members, office staff and delegates met in Aveiro, Portugal, on 19 April. The first face-to-face EC meeting for 2024 was hosted by the Portuguese Academic Federation of University Sports (FADU) and the University of Aveiro.
The members of the EUSA family were welcomed by the representative of the hosts – the President of the FADU, Ricardo Nora. EUSA President Adam Roczek thanked the host institution for the invitation and the hospitality, highlighting the great commitment over the past years of successful participation in and organisation of a large number of EUSA competitions.
The key business at the meeting was deciding on the host cities for the 2028 and 2030 European Universities Games which were awarded respectively to Split in Croatia and Granada, Spain.
The bidding committees were represented by EUSA Vice-President Aitor Canibe Sanchez for Granada, TUSF President and EUSA EC Member Mehmet Gunay for Manisa, Türkiye; and CASF Secretary General Nikola Vincetic for Split.
Participants were given a general overview of activities and an office report presented by EUSA Secretary General Matjaz Pecovnik, who highlighted the achievements of the organisation in the past period, the successful year of 2023 for EUSA and the packed calendar of events for 2024, with the European Universities Games 2024 in Debrecen-Miskolc and the 25th Anniversary Gala in Vienna as the highlights. EUSA Treasurer Francis Cirianni then presented an overview of the financial report, the preliminary budget for 2023-2024 and details of the EUSA Development Fund for 2024.
On behalf of the Sports Department, EUSA Sports Manager Miha Zvan reported on the successful first edition of the European Universities Winter Championships. Zvan presented the progress report on the upcoming European Universities Rowing Championships 2024 to be held in Ankara, the report on the 2025 season of the European Universities Championship 2025 season and the provisional plan for the 2027 edition, followed by the allocation of the 2027 EUC by the EC to the new hosts.
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Projects and initiatives co-funded by the European Union (EU) through the Erasmus+ Programme and the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) were presented by EUSA Projects and Policy Manager, Andrej Pisl. EUSA is involved in several projects and through its Institute is currently leading several EU funded projects; Enhancing Sport Organisations and Management (ESOM), Discovering University Sport and Supporting Dual Career (DiscoverU), Youth Individual Sports Mindset (YouMind), Mobility of Youth and Youth Workers, and European Solidarity Corps – Volunteering.
The theme of conferences and meetings was presented by the EUSA Secretary General and the Education and Development Manager, Sara Rozman. A progress report on the EUSA – FISU Seminar, a calendar of upcoming Executive Committee meetings and a progress report on the EUSA Conference and Anniversary Gala were shared.
The latest applications and revisions to the EUSA Associate Membership applications were also presented and approved, bringing the total number of Associate Universities to 102, from 20 countries. This remarkable result, achieved in just one year since the launch of the initiative, was underlined by Secretary General Pecovnik, who also announced that the milestone of 100 Associate Members had been reached with the approval of the University of Lisbon.
In the afternoon session of the meeting, a brief progress report on the European University Games Debrecen-Miskolc 2024 (EUG2024) was given by MEFS Secretary General Peter Juhasz and EUSA Executive Committee Member Zoltan Rakaczki.
The meeting then continued with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding between EUSA and the European Federation of Powerlifting (EPF): this document aims to strengthen the cooperation and partnership between the two organisations, which will lead to the organisation of the first EUSA-EPF European Universities Championship in 2027. On behalf of EPF, the memorandum was signed by its President Bjorn Astad and Secretary General Tetiana Melnyk.
The EUSA meeting concluded with a discussion on the e-sports programme and the possibilities of creating an infrastructure for the development of university sport. The presentation was led by Mr Denis Davydov, supported by EC member Yevgeniy Imas as project partner with the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine.
The first day of EUSA events in Aveiro continued with a visit to the FADU office and museum and the attendance of delegates and guests at the final of the Portuguese University Futsal Championship.
