EUSA Year Magazine 2024-2025

The founding General Assembly
held on the 1st of June 1949
counts as the official date
of FISU’s establishment.
This gathering, organised in
Zurich under the guidance
of Luxembourg teacher and
sports leader Paul Schleimer,
was attended by several
European national university
sports associations, with Italy,
Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg,
Switzerland, and the Netherlands
becoming founding members.

Since its creation, FISU has
organised five International
University Sport Weeks (1949-
1947), 62 Winter and Summer
University Games (1959-
2023), 453 World University
Championships and Cups (1963-

2024), 45 World Conferences

and Forums (1960-2024), six

Young Reporters Programmes,

and has been developing

the FISU Healthy Campus

Programme since 2020 with 164

universities already involved!

Many smiles and a

good-bye

This 75th Anniversary was

celebrated in the atmosphere

of a “family gathering” on

27 November in Lausanne

(Switzerland), where FISU has its

headquarters after moving from

Brussels in 2012.

The date wasn’t chosen

randomly. It coincided with

the 65th birthday of FISU’s

Secretary General and CEO,

Eric Saintrond, who retired after

dedicating almost 40 years of

his life to university sports and

to the development of FISU.

He took the opportunity of the

celebrations to say his goodbyes

and to pass the baton to the new

Secretary General and CEO from

1 December, the Swiss Matthias

Remund.

In the meeting rooms, offices

and university lecture rooms, the

International University Sports

Federation has almost been as

active as in the sports halls, on

the pitches, the ice, or the snow.

A first meeting on the

African continent

On 27-28 September, the FISU

Executive Committee met for

the very first time on the African

continent, in the beautiful

Moroccan city of Rabat. “FISU

is a global organisation and in

this light, it is really important

that we organise events on all

continents,” said FISU President

Leonz Eder. “We received a very

kind invitation from our friends

in Morocco to organise our

Executive Committee Meeting

here. I am really impressed with

what this country is doing for the

university sports movement, and

I thank everyone here for their

hard work and for their warm

welcome.”

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY SPORTS ASSOCIATION YEAR MAGAZINE 2024-2025^131