The Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (International University Sports Federation), the entity responsible for putting on the World University Games, has recently approved a 10-year strategic operational plan entitled the “FISU Strategy.”
Meeting in Brussels at its annual assembly earlier this month, FISU’s Executive Committee voted to pass the plan which is said to define the organization’s strategic goals and detailed objectives needed to be met to make the goals happen.
FISU President Oleg Matytsin said of the FISU Strategy, “Our strategy is dictated by our vision, which is: to create a world where University sport has positively shaped the majority of leaders in society. Creating and executing a long-term strategy like this is a game changer for FISU and I am very excited to be starting work on it immediately.”
Other notable decisions made during the annual meeting was the location of the 2021 Winter Universiade (Lucerne, Switzerland), as well as an age limit revision to compete at FISU events.
The age limit for participating in past FISU events stood between 17 and 28, but now the upper end of the bracket sits at 25 years of age. From the FISU announcement, the date or event upon which the new age range of 17-25 takes place is not spelled out. The USA site listing the eligibility requirements for the 2017 Summer Universiade still lists the age range as follows:
The Universiades and Championships are open to all student athletes that have not been out of university
or its equivalent for more than a year and that are between 17 and 28 years old. Any association or national federation which is recognized by the US-IUSF (and in turn, FISU) is eligible to nominate a team or individual competitor
in a sport represented in the current World University Games competition.
Tapei is the site of the 2017 Summer Universiade (World University Games), with Naples, Italy currently the only bidder put forth thus far for the 2019 edition.