Games of the Small States of Europe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Games of the Small States of Europe
Logo of the event
Genre	Multisport competitions
Location(s)	International
Inaugurated	1985; 40 years ago (1985)
Previous event	2023
Next event	2025
Organised by	European Olympic Committees

Member states in red, Vatican City in blue as unknown status, Faroe Islands in green as a prospective member

The Games of the Small States of Europe (often called GSSE) is a big sports event. It happens every two years. The Republic of San Marino started these games in 1985.

The games bring together athletes from nine small European countries. These countries have their own National Olympic Committee. The GSSE usually takes place in late May or early June. Athletes compete in nine different sports, similar to the Summer Olympics.

Countries in the Games

The European Olympic Committees (EOC) help organize these games. When the games first started in 1984, there were eight member countries. In 2009, Montenegro joined, making it nine members.

Most of these countries have less than one million people. Cyprus is the only country with more than a million people now. But its population was under one million in 1984.

Here are the countries that take part:

(*) Montenegro became the ninth GSSE country on 1 June 2009.

The Faroe Islands also want to join the games. However, they are not an independent country. They are an autonomous part of Denmark. Also, they are not a member of the EOC. Because of this, they cannot compete in the games.

History of the Games

The Games of the Small States of Europe have been held many times. Each time, a different member country hosts the event. This table shows where and when the games have taken place. It also shows how many athletes competed and which country won the most medals.

No.	Year	Host City	Host Nation	Dates	Nations	Compet­itors	Sports	Events	Champions
1	1985	City of San Marino	San Marino	23–26 May	8	222	7	49	Iceland (ISL)
2	1987	Monaco City	Monaco	14–17 May		468	9	66
3	1989	Nicosia	Cyprus	17–20 May		675	8	75	Cyprus (CYP)
4	1991	Andorra la Vella	Andorra	21–25 May		697	8	82	Iceland (ISL)
5	1993	Valletta	Malta	25–29 May		690	8	87
6	1995	Luxembourg City	Luxembourg	29 May – 3 June		684	9	88
7	1997	Reykjavík	Iceland	2–7 June		714	10	87
8	1999	Vaduz	Liechtenstein	24–29 May		566	9	86
9	2001	City of San Marino	San Marino	29 May – 2 June		658	11	101
10	2003	Valletta	Malta	2–7 June		765	10	105	Cyprus (CYP)
11	2005	Andorra la Vella	Andorra	30 May – 4 June		793	11	120
12	2007	Monaco City	Monaco	4–9 June		1062	12	121
13	2009	Various	Cyprus	1–6 June		843	9	120
14	2011	Various	Liechtenstein	30 May – 4 June	9	750	9	113
15	2013	Luxembourg City	Luxembourg	27 May – 1 June		762	12	120	Luxembourg (LUX)
16	2015	Reykjavík	Iceland	27 May – 1 June		789	11	120	Iceland (ISL)
17	2017	City of San Marino	San Marino	29 May – 3 June		889	11	131	Luxembourg (LUX)
18	2019	Budva	Montenegro	27 May – 1 June		846	10	113
19	2021	Andorra la Vella	Andorra	Cancelled to avoid scheduling conflict with the rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics
19	2023	Various	Malta	28 May – 3 June	9	835	10	125	Malta (MLT)
20	2025	Andorra la Vella	Andorra	26 May – 1 June	9	800+	12	tbd	Future event
21	2027	Monaco City	Monaco	Future event
22	2029	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Future event

What Sports Are Included?

Many different sports are part of the Games of the Small States of Europe. Some sports have different types of events, called disciplines. For example, "Aquatics" includes swimming. The colors below help group similar sports together.

     Aquatics           Basketball           Cycling           Gymnastics           Volleyball
     The planned Games of 2021 were cancelled because the 2020 Summer Olympics were moved to that year.

This table shows which sports were played in each year of the games:

Sport (Discipline)		Body	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	07	09	11	13	15	17	19	21	23
Swimming (records)		LEN	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		•
Synchronized swimming											•
3-on-3 basketball		FIBAE																			•
Basketball			•	•	•	•	•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•
Mountain biking		UEC													•	•	•		•		•
Road cycling			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		•			•	•		•		•
Artistic		UEG							•					•	•		•	•			•
Rhythmic															•
Beach volleyball		CEV												•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Volleyball				•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Archery		WAE																	•
Athletics (records)		EAA	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Boules		CMSB									•			•						•	•
Golf		EGA																	•
Sailing		EUROSAF									•		•	•
Judo		EJU	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Karate		EKF																			•
Squash		ESF							•	•		•				•
Shooting		ESF	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Table tennis		ETTU						•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Taekwondo		ETU											•								•
Tennis		TE		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Weightlifting		EWF	•	•
Sport (Discipline)		Body	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	07	09	11	13	15	17	19	21	23

Who Won the Most Medals?

This table shows the total number of gold, silver, and bronze medals won by each country over all the Games of the Small States of Europe.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Cyprus (CYP)	519	453	398	1,370
2	Iceland (ISL)	509	393	423	1,325
3	Luxembourg (LUX)	411	420	398	1,229
4	Monaco (MON)	147	169	252	568
5	Malta (MLT)	111	174	231	516
6	Liechtenstein (LIE)	75	80	105	260
7	San Marino (SMR)	68	122	155	345
8	Montenegro (MNE)	55	24	46	125
9	Andorra (AND)	52	100	139	291
Totals (9 entries)		1,947	1,935	2,147	6,029

See also

In Spanish: Juegos de los Pequeños Estados de Europa para niños

• Championships of the Small States of Europe
• Island Games