FISU World University Games facts for kids

The FISU World University Games are a huge international sports event. They are for university students from all over the world. The International University Sports Federation (FISU) organizes these games.

Before 2020, this event was called the Universiade. This name was a mix of "University" and "Olympiad". People also called them the World University Games or World Student Games. In July 2020, FISU officially changed the name to the FISU World University Games.

The most recent Summer Games were held in Chengdu, China. They took place from July 28 to August 8, 2023. These games were delayed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 Summer Games, which were planned for Yekaterinburg, Russia, were cancelled. This happened because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The most recent Winter Games were held in Lake Placid, USA, from January 12 to 22, 2023. The next Winter Games will be in Turin, Italy, from January 13 to 21, 2025.

History of the Games

A student football match at the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students

During the 1989 Summer Universiade

During the 2011 Summer Universiade

The idea for a global sports competition for students started a long time ago. It was even before FISU was formed in 1949. The first World University Games happened in 1923.

In the early 1900s, a French person named Jean Petitjean tried to organize "University Olympic Games". He talked with Pierre de Coubertin, who started the modern Olympic Games. Petitjean decided not to use the word "Olympic".

Petitjean and another group, the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE), started a series of international events. These began with the 1923 International Universities Championships. They held more events, changing the name a few times. The last one was in 1947.

After World War II, student sports groups split up. FISU was created in 1949. They started their own event, the 1949 Summer International University Sports Week. These events were mostly for Western European countries at first.

Eventually, the different groups started working together. At the 1957 World University Games, many countries from both groups took part. This event was organized by Jean Petitjean in France. The FISU-organized Universiade then became the main event. It kept the every-two-years format, starting with the first 1959 Universiade. In 1957, countries like Brazil, Japan, and the United States joined. This made the competition truly global.

Early Student Sports Events

Here are some of the early international student sports events. These events are not officially recognized by FISU as part of the Universiade or World University Games history.

Precursor events

#	Year	Event	Body	Host city	Host country
1	1923	International Universities Championships	CIE	Paris	France
2	1924	Summer Student World Championships	CIE	Warsaw	Poland
3	1927	Summer Student World Championships	CIE	Rome	Italy
4	1928	Summer Student World Championships	CIE	Paris	France
5	1930	International University Games	CIE	Darmstadt	Germany
6	1933	International University Games	CIE	Turin	Italy
7	1935	International University Games	CIE	Budapest	Hungary
8	1937	International University Games	CIE	Paris	France
9	1939	International University Games	CIE	Monte Carlo	Monaco
10	1939	International University Games	NSDStB	Vienna	Germany
11	1947	International University Games	CIE	Paris	France
12	1947	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Prague	Czechoslovakia
13	1949	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Budapest	Hungary
14	1949	Summer International University Sports Week	FISU	Merano	Italy
15	1951	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	East Berlin	East Germany
16	1951	Summer International University Sports Week	FISU	Luxembourg	Luxembourg
17	1953	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Bucharest	Romania
18	1953	Summer International University Sports Week	FISU	Dortmund	West Germany
19	1955	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Warsaw	Poland
20	1955	Summer International University Sports Week	FISU	San Sebastián	Spain
21	1957	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Moscow	Soviet Union
22	1957	World University Games	PUC	Paris	France
23	1959	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Vienna	Austria
24	1962	World Festival of Youth and Students	UIE	Helsinki	Finland

Summer Games Locations

Overview of summer Universiade events

Games	Year	Host country	Host city	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors	Sports	Events	Top nation
1	1959	Italy	Turin	President Giovanni Gronchi	26 August – 7 September	43	985	7	60	Italy
2	1961	Bulgaria	Sofia	Chairman Dimitar Ganev	25 August – 3 September	32	1,270	9	68	Soviet Union
3	1963	Brazil	Porto Alegre	Minister Paulo de Tarso Santos	30 August – 8 September	27	713	9	70	Hungary
4	1965	Hungary	Budapest	Chairman István Dobi	20–30 August	32	1,729	9	74	Hungary
5	1967	Japan	Tokyo	Emperor Hirohito	27 August – 4 September	37	958	10	83	United States
6	1970	Italy	Turin	President Giuseppe Saragat	26 August – 6 September	58	2,084	9	82	Soviet Union
7	1973	Soviet Union	Moscow	Chairman Leonid Brezhnev	15–25 August	61	2,773	10	111	Soviet Union
8	1975	Italy	Rome	President Giovanni Leone	18–21 August	38	468	1	38	Soviet Union
9	1977	Bulgaria	Sofia	President Todor Zhivkov	17–28 August	78	2,939	10	101	Soviet Union
10	1979	Mexico	Mexico City	President José López Portillo	2–13 September	94	3,074	10	97	Soviet Union
11	1981	Romania	Bucharest	President Nicolae Ceaușescu	19–30 July	82	2,912	10	133	Soviet Union
12	1983	Canada	Edmonton	Prince Charles	1–12 July	73	2,382	10	118	Soviet Union
13	1985	Japan	Kobe	Crown Prince Akihito	24 August – 4 September	105	2,383	11	123	Soviet Union
14	1987	Yugoslavia	Zagreb	President of the Presidency Lazar Mojsov	8–19 July	121	3,398	12	139	United States
15	1989	West Germany	Duisburg	Chancellor Helmut Kohl	22–30 August	79	1,785	4	66	Soviet Union
16	1991	United Kingdom	Sheffield	Anne, Princess Royal	14–25 July	101	3,346	11	119	United States
17	1993	United States	Buffalo	Primo Nebiolo	8–18 July	117	3,547	12	135	United States
18	1995	Japan	Fukuoka	Crown Prince Naruhito	23 August – 3 September	162	3,949	12	144	United States
19	1997	Italy	Sicily	President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro	19–31 August	124	3,496	10	129	United States
20	1999	Spain	Palma de Mallorca	Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo	3–13 July	125	4,076	12	142	United States
21	2001	China	Beijing	President Jiang Zemin	22 August – 1 September	165	4,484	12	170	China
22	2003	South Korea	Daegu	President Roh Moo-hyun	21–31 August	173	4,460	13	189	China
23	2005	Turkey	İzmir	President Ahmet Necdet Sezer	11–22 August	131	5,346	14	195	Russia
24	2007	Thailand	Bangkok	Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn	8–18 August	151	6,093	15	236	China
25	2009	Serbia	Belgrade	Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković	1–12 July	122	5,566	15	203	Russia
26	2011	China	Shenzhen	President Hu Jintao	12–23 August	151	7,156	24	302	China
27	2013	Russia	Kazan	President Vladimir Putin	6–17 July	159	7,966	27	351	Russia
28	2015	South Korea	Gwangju	President Park Geun-hye	3–14 July	140	7,432	21	274	South Korea
29	2017	Chinese Taipei	Taipei	President Tsai Ing-wen	19–30 August	134	7,377	22	272	Japan
30	2019	Italy	Naples	President Sergio Mattarella	3–14 July	109	5,899	18	220	Japan
31	2021	China	Chengdu	President Xi Jinping	28 July – 8 August 2023	116	5,056	18	269	China
–	2023	Russia	Yekaterinburg	Cancelled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
32	2025	Germany	Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region	Minister Bärbel Bas	16–27 July	114		18	234
33	2027	South Korea	Chungcheong Province		1-12 August			18	242
34	2029	United States	Research Triangle		11-22 July			18	222

Winter Games Locations

Winter World University Games editions

Games	Year	Host country	Host city	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors	Sports	Events	Top nation
											1	1960	France	Chamonix	President Charles de Gaulle	28 February – 6 March	16	151	5	13	France
2	1962	Switzerland	Villars	President Paul Chaudet	6–12 March	22	273	6	12	West Germany
3	1964	Czechoslovakia	Špindlerův Mlýn	President Antonín Novotný	11–17 February	21	285	5	15	West Germany
4	1966	Italy	Sestriere	President Giuseppe Saragat	5–13 February	29	434	6	19	Soviet Union
5	1968	Austria	Innsbruck	President Franz Jonas	21–28 January	26	424	7	23	Soviet Union
6	1970	Finland	Rovaniemi	President Urho Kekkonen	3–9 April	25	421	7	24	Soviet Union
7	1972	United States	Lake Placid	President Richard Nixon	26 February – 5 March	23	351	7	25	Soviet Union
8	1975	Italy	Livigno	President Giovanni Leone	6–13 April	15	143	2	13	Soviet Union
9	1978	Czechoslovakia	Špindlerův Mlýn	President Gustáv Husák	5–12 February	21	260	4	16	Soviet Union
10	1981	Spain	Jaca	King Juan Carlos I	25 February – 4 March	28	394	5	19	Soviet Union
11	1983	Bulgaria	Sofia	Chairman Todor Zhivkov	17–27 February	31	535	7	21	Soviet Union
12	1985	Italy	Belluno	President Sandro Pertini	16–24 February	29	538	7	30	Soviet Union
13	1987	Czechoslovakia	Štrbské Pleso	President Gustáv Husák	21–28 February	28	596	6	25	Czechoslovakia
14	1989	Bulgaria	Sofia	Chairman Todor Zhivkov	2–12 March	32	681	8	40	Soviet Union
15	1991	Japan	Sapporo	Crown Prince Naruhito	2–10 March	34	668	8	45	Japan
16	1993	Poland	Zakopane	President Lech Wałęsa	6–14 February	41	668	8	36	Japan
17	1995	Spain	Jaca	King Juan Carlos I	18–28 February	41	765	8	35	South Korea
18	1997	South Korea	Muju-Jeonju	President Kim Young-sam	24 January – 2 February	48	877	9	51	Japan
19	1999	Slovakia	Poprad-Vysoké Tatry	President Rudolf Schuster	22–30 January	40	929	9	52	Russia
20	2001	Poland	Zakopane	President Aleksander Kwaśniewski	7–17 February	41	1007	9	52	Russia
21	2003	Italy	Tarvisio	President Renzo Tondo	16–26 January	46	1266	10	59	Russia
22	2005	Austria	Innsbruck-Seefeld	President Heinz Fischer	12–22 January	50	1449	12	68	Austria
23	2007	Italy	Turin	George Killian	17–27 January	48	1668	11	72	South Korea
24	2009	China	Harbin	State councillor Liu Yandong	18–28 February	44	1545	12	81	China
25	2011	Turkey	Erzurum	President Abdullah Gül	27 January – 6 February	52	1593	11	66	Russia
26	2013	Italy	Trentino	President Ugo Rossi	11–21 December	50	1698	12	79	Russia
27	2015	Slovakia	Štrbské Pleso–Osrblie	President Andrej Kiska	24 January – 1 February	42	1546	11	68	Russia
		Spain	Granada	King Felipe VI	4–14 February
28	2017	Kazakhstan	Almaty	President Nursultan Nazarbayev	29 January – 8 February	57	1620	12	85	Russia
29	2019	Russia	Krasnoyarsk	President Vladimir Putin	2–12 March	68	1692	11	76	Russia
30	2021	Switzerland	Lucerne	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
31	2023	United States	Lake Placid	Governor Kathy Hochul	12–22 January	47	1417	12	85	Japan
32	2025	Italy	Turin	Minister Andrea Abodi	13–23 January	54	1503	11	90	France
33	2027	TBA

Sports at the Games

The sports played at the FISU World University Games are divided into two types: compulsory and optional. Compulsory sports must be included in every event. Optional sports can be chosen by the host country.

Summer Games Sports

At the first Summer Games in 1959, there were 8 sports. These included athletics, basketball, fencing, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, volleyball, and water polo. Over time, more sports were added.

Compulsory Summer Sports

These sports must be part of every Summer World University Games.

Team Sports

• Basketball at the Summer World University Games
• Volleyball at the Summer World University Games
• Water polo at the Summer World University Games

Individual Sports

• Athletics at the Summer World University Games
• Swimming at the Summer World University Games: This has been a compulsory event since 1959. Open water swimming was added in some years.
• Diving at the Summer World University Games
• Gymnastics at the Summer World University Games: This includes artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. Artistic gymnastics became compulsory in 1963. Rhythmic gymnastics became compulsory in 2001.
• Fencing at the Summer World University Games
• Tennis at the Summer World University Games
• Table tennis at the Summer World University Games: This became compulsory in 2007.
• Judo at the Summer World University Games: This became compulsory in 2007.
• Taekwondo at the Summer World University Games: This became compulsory in 2017.
• Archery at the Summer World University Games: This became compulsory in 2019.
• Badminton at the Summer World University Games: This became compulsory in 2021.

Optional Summer Sports

Host countries can choose to include these sports.

Team Sports

• Baseball at the Summer World University Games: Played 5 times.
• Beach volleyball at the Summer World University Games: Played 4 times.
• Field hockey at the Summer World University Games: Played 2 times.
• Rugby sevens at the Summer World University Games: Played 3 times.
• Basketball at the Summer World University Games (3x3 basketball): Scheduled for 2025.
• Handball at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Softball at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.

Individual Sports

• Rowing at the Summer World University Games: Played 7 times.
• Shooting at the Summer World University Games: Played 6 times.
• Wrestling at the Summer World University Games: Played 5 times.
• Golf at the Summer World University Games: Played 4 times.
• Sailing at the Summer World University Games: Played 4 times.
• Weightlifting at the Summer World University Games: Played 3 times.
• Canoeing at the Summer World University Games: Played 2 times.
• Chess at the Summer World University Games: Played 2 times.
• Cycling at the Summer World University Games: Played 2 times.
• Wushu at the Summer World University Games: Played 2 times.
• Belt wrestling at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Boxing at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Roller sports at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Sambo at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Synchronized swimming at the Summer World University Games: Played 1 time.

Removed Summer Sports

• Football at the Summer World University Games: This sport was compulsory from 1985 to 2019. It is no longer part of the main games.

Winter Games Sports

From 1960 to 1989, the Winter Games had a set list of sports. Since 1991, host countries can choose some optional sports.

Compulsory Winter Sports

These sports must be part of every Winter World University Games.

Team Sports

• Curling at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 2007.
• Ice hockey at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 1966.

Individual Sports

• Alpine skiing at the Winter World University Games
• Biathlon at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 1997.
• Cross-country skiing at the Winter World University Games
• Figure skating at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 1981.
• Freestyle skiing at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 2023.
• Snowboarding at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 1999.
• Ski-orienteering at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 2027.
• Short track speed skating at the Winter World University Games: Compulsory since 1997.

Optional Winter Sports

Host countries can choose to include these sports.

Team Sports

• Bandy at the Winter World University Games: Played 1 time.

Individual Sports

• Nordic combined at the Winter World University Games: Played 27 times.
• Ski jumping at the Winter World University Games: Played 25 times.
• Ski mountaineering at the Winter World University Games: Played 1 time.
• Skeleton at the Winter World University Games: Played 1 time.

Special Winter Sport Status

• Speed skating at the Winter World University Games: Played 11 times with a special status.

Medal Winners

Summer Games Medals

Rank	NUSF	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China (CHN)	547	343	282	1,172
2	United States (USA)	507	452	419	1,378
3	Russia (RUS)	441	366	422	1,229
4	Soviet Union (URS)*	411	321	235	967
5	Japan (JPN)	372	367	472	1,211
6	South Korea (KOR)	258	217	255	730
7	France (FRA)	210	189	324	723
8	Italy (ITA)	208	225	276	709
9	Ukraine (UKR)	194	187	176	557
10	Romania (ROU)	147	132	147	426
Totals (10 entries)		3,295	2,799	3,008	9,102

Winter Games Medals

Rank	NUSF	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia (RUS)	208	189	173	570
2	South Korea (KOR)	127	91	86	304
3	Japan (JPN)	122	131	112	365
4	Soviet Union (URS)*	103	98	70	271
5	China (CHN)	80	70	79	229
6	France (FRA)	75	64	76	215
7	Italy (ITA)	61	67	72	200
8	Poland (POL)	60	67	74	201
9	Austria (AUT)	56	56	56	168
10	Czechoslovakia (TCH)*	52	50	27	129
Totals (10 entries)		944	883	825	2,652

See also

In Spanish: Universiadas para niños

• International University Sports Federation
• FISU World University Championships
• FISU America Games
• All-Africa University Games
• European Universities Games
• ASEAN University Games
• Gymnasiade
• International Children's Games