The Operational Organizing Committee of the 2024 European University Games (EUG) met in Debrecen. The participants discussed four agenda items at the meeting held in the Nagyerdei Stadium.
Debrecen and Miskolc, as well as the universities of the two cities, have jointly won the right to organize next year’s European University Games, which will take place between July 12 and 24, 2024.
As part of the multi-year preparation process, the organizing committee met again on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the co-organizer Hungarian University Sports Association (MEFS), as well as professionals from the University of Miskolc and the University of Debrecen to review the remaining tasks and functional areas until the start of the event.
Péter Juhász, secretary general of MEFS and head of the Operational Organizing Committee, said that the National Event Organizing Agency (NRÜ) will also be involved in the work from January.
As a project company, they will take part in the preparation and implementation, so we will hold discussions on joint work in many areas. Representatives of the city and the universities, as well as MEFS and NRÜ, are also interested in making the University Games a successful international event, similar to the Athletics World Cup or the Handball Final Four
– emphasized the sports leader.
Péter Juhász added: the biggest task for the rest of the year is to coordinate the work processes with the NRÜ, so that the universities, MEFS and the cities have the best possible reputation in the European Union in connection with the Hungarian EU presidency.
At the meeting, the prepared progress report was presented, which is a report on the tasks so far, discussing in detail the degree of readiness of each functional area. Accordingly, the participants could hear a report on the current state of the organization of the EUG. Among other things, they talked about sports infrastructure planning, accreditation, transfer and volunteers.
They also reviewed the event’s marketing concept, which is based on the slogan “More than games – this is the start of your career”. In other words, participating in the EUG can prepare students in a more complex way for a more successful life. According to the organizers, next year’s EUG could be a new beginning for the young university athletes who were addressed.
According to László Balogh, the head of the organizing committee in Debrecen and the director of DESKI, according to the given milestone, the organization is progressing well.
We also discussed strategic and conceptual issues, among which I would highlight the final event in Debrecen. According to the plan, the closing event of the EUG will coincide with the zero day of the Campus Festival and we want to convey all the values of the festival. We are not only thinking about a simple flag handover, but a show. This has never been the case in the history of EUGs, that the closing of the event took place in a beautiful stadium and at a huge festival surrounding the facility
– László Balogh indicated.
The operational director highlighted: Debrecen has the organizing team needed to make the 2024 EUG the best European University Games of all time.
The EUSA delegation will soon visit the city again in connection with the event. On November 23-24, experts from the European University Sports Association will take part in a facility tour in the city of Cívis.
In terms of the number of participants, the EUG is the third largest sports event after the Olympics. It will be our country’s largest sports event since the 1965 Summer Universiade. 5,000 athletes from 40 European nations can come to our country, and in Debrecen, up to 3,000 university students can fight for the best positions during the 10 competition days.
(unideb.hu)
