Germany Chases Universiade Hosting Duties

(ATR) The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia is forging ahead with its bid for the Universiade 2025.

"The state has basically signalled its interest in the topic. There is now more in-depth expertise available for the Rhine-Ruhr region," the state chancellery in Düsseldorf informed. On Wednesday, the Sports Committee of the German Bundestag in Berlin will discuss the application intentions for the student world games, in which 10,000 athletes and officials take part every two years.

The general German university sport federation (adh) examined several locations in Germany for the feasibility, said from the state chancellery NRW. The Rhine-Ruhr region is the only remaining candidate. Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin have cancelled.

North Rhine-Westphalia is now conducting further coordination talks with adh and the Federal Ministry of the Interior to clarify the key data, including the concrete locations and financing for an application.

In 1989 Duisburg hosted a Universiade in Germany for the first and last time in the 60-year history of the Games.

The venue in 2019 was Naples, the Chinese city of Chengdu follows in 2021 and the Russian city of Ekaterinburg in 2023. The games are generally awarded four years before they are to be held. The Universiade lasts twelve days and includes 18 Olympic sports.

Alfons Hörmann, President of the German Olympic Sports Federation, had already put a Universiade application on the agenda some time ago and placed it in the context of an Olympic bid, as it is also being promoted on the Rhine and Ruhr. "In addition to a possible bid for a Universiade, the fundamental question of a possible bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the 2030s is of course also at stake," he said last year.

Written by Heinz Peter Kreuzer

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