Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games: Anticipation sparks for world-class sporting event in the Ruhr region

From 16 to 27 July 2025, top student athletes from all over the world will come together at the Rhine and Ruhr. After Duisburg in 1989, the FISU World University Games will be held in Germany for the second time. For the first time, the Rhine-Ruhr region will host the event: the five host cities – Bochum, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr – will be home to the world's elite in university sport for twelve days. Born out of coal and steel, the Rhine-Ruhr region today presents the densest university landscape in Europe and has the most sports clubs and partner universities for top-level sport in Germany. The unique combination of culture, science and sport will provide ideal conditions for a sports competition of this calibre.

In a ceremony on  8 August 2023, the flag of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) was handed over to the future host at the Chengdu Open Air Music Park in China. Mahmut Özdemir, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior and Community, and Dr Verena Burk, Senior Member of the FISU Executive Committee and Academic Senior Councillor at the University of Tübingen, accepted the flag on behalf of Germany. While this marked the start of the 2025 Games in Germany, the handover of the flag also marked the end of the Chengdu FISU World University Games.

The cultural performance of the future host Rhine-Ruhr 2025 under the motto "PASSIONATELY CONNECTED BY FIRE AND WATER" gave a first taste of the spirit of the Games in 2025. The artistic presentation of an impressive dance show symbolically illustrated how a symbiotic community emerges from the opposing elements of fire and water. Niklas Börger, CEO of the organising committee, underlined this motif: "Both the FISU World University Games and the host region stand for this very symbiosis."

The performance allowed seemingly opposing polarities to merge into an unbreakable unity and create an impressive togetherness. The large-scale show programme underlined the importance of the event, which is held every two years. The largest international multi-sport event after the Olympic and Paralympic Games gives Rhine-Ruhr the opportunity to present itself globally as the strong, cosmopolitan region that it is. 

Mahmut Özdemir, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, expressed his enthusiasm for the event and is looking forward to welcoming the athletes to Germany in two years' time: "At the Rhine-Ruhr FISU World University Games in the summer of 2025, we want to offer the international university sports athletes, guests and spectators outstanding sporting competition, unforgettable experiences and exciting exchanges and encounters. Due to its dense network of sports facilities and scientific institutions, the Rhine-Ruhr region offers an excellent framework for hosting inspiring games in the long term and presenting Germany as a reliable host of major international sporting events." 

Jörg Förster, chairman of the board of the German University Sports Federation (adh), added: "Together with our partners, we will organise a major event that combines sport and science in an exemplary way. The conceptual focus of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games is the symbiosis of social, ecological and economic sustainability as well as innovation and participation. Sport has the power to create mutual understanding, tolerance and friendship across all borders. With the Games in Germany, we want to contribute to this and make it possible to experience the values of sport that are important for society as a whole.”

This official conclusion of the Chengdu FISU World University Games paves the way for sporting and cultural highlights at the World University Games 2025. The Rhine-Ruhr region, which has a very good sports infrastructure, is already preparing intensively for the guests from all over the world. More than 10,000 athletes and officials from over 150 countries are expected to compete in 18 sports.

ENDS

For more information on the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 World Univeristy Games visit https://rhineruhr2025.com/en