Preparations are underway for the European Universities Games to be held next year in Lodz. A specially established Organising Committee at the Sports Department of Lodz University of Technology has been working on the organisation of the European Universities Games (EUG 2022) since September last year.

 The joint application of Lodz University of Technology, the City of Lodz and the Academic Sports Association for the right to organise the EUG was approved in 2018 during the General Assembly of EUSA – the European University Sports Association. It is an organisation that has been active for more than 20 years, bringing together 46 delegates from countries across Europe. Its flagship event, the biggest celebration of academic sport are the European Universities Games, organised every 2 years in different cities.

The main idea of the Lodz event is sport accessible to everyone, regardless of social status, gender or education.

– Lodz is one of the largest academic centres in the country. During EUG 2022 we will have a unique opportunity to show it in Europe as a place which young people choose to study, develop their skills and passions. Approximately 65,000 students study at 19 universities in Lodz, including more than 12,000 at Lodz University of Technology. It’s important to emphasise that we’re preparing the Games together with the academic and sports community and Lodz authorities. For our university, it is a great honour and promotion of Lodz University of Technology, where for years science has been successfully combined with sport. Our students and graduates can be proud of medals in many sports disciplines. I am convinced that during the EUG 2022 they will also show their high level – emphasises prof. Krzysztof Jóźwik, Rector of Lodz University of Technology.

In September last year, the EUG Lodz 2022 Organising Committee was formed by the TUL Sports Department. The team consists of a dozen people.

– We are working despite the pandemic, we are of good mind and we expect that the 2022 Games in Lodz will be a real celebration of sport. Our office works using the lean principle, we use modern technologies to transfer and store project management files. The challenges we overcome with pandemic constraints allow us to build an effective team that can work in difficult conditions and find solutions in unusual situations – says Tatsiana Andrushka, coordinator of EUG Lodz 2022.

5 thousand athletes

There will be no shortage of sporting challenges during EUG 2022. It will be necessary to provide facilities for 5 000 participants to compete and enjoy leisure time. Student-athletes will compete in 19 competitions. The games include volleyball, basketball, football and table tennis. Also planned are para-table tennis and para-swimming, which is in line with the idea of sport for all. Athletes will also compete for medals in sport climbing and water polo. Twenty sports venues in Lodz will host the Games. Some of the competitions will be held in TUL Sports and Education Centre “Sports Bay”, which will also serve as a management centre for the Organizing Committee and volunteers.

– The Sports Bay at TUL has the only indoor Olympic-size swimming pool in the voivodship, where – apart from swimming – water polo competitions will be held. We will also use the “dry zone” for basketball, badminton and sport climbing competitions. We’re doing our best to make this event a great and unforgettable event for the participants and fans, but also to promote Lodz and its universities, stresses Dr Ewa Brochocka, the Head of TUL Sports and Education Centre, who also heads the TUL Sports Department.

The competition will also take place at the AZS facilities and the Atlas Arena, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the EUG LODZ 2022 are planned.

Education and integration

The EUG are not just about sporting competition. The student games are also the time for panel discussions on educational and social aspects of university sport in Europe. The planned Rectors’ Conference at Lodz University of Technology will serve to discuss modern solutions in education. Workshops for students and volunteers are also planned.

EUG 2022 will also provide entertainment for whole families: concerts, picnics, competitions with prizes. For the youngest, there will be sports tournaments.

Interesting facts about EUG

• The first European Universities Games were held in 2012, in Cordoba, Spain.
• Record attendance was reported during the 3rd edition in Zagreb and Rijeka, Croatia 2016 with around 5,500 participants representing 388 universities from 40 countries.
• Lodz will host the 6th edition of the EUG in 2022. It will be the largest academic sport event organised in Poland since the Winter Universiade in 2001.