Jinjiang, China will play host to the 2nd FISU University World Cup Football from 21st through the 31st October 2023.

The second edition was originally scheduled to take place in 2021, however it has been pushed back to 2023 because to the COVID-19 epidemic. It has been four years since the inaugural FISU University World Cup Football, which was successfully held in 2019 in the same host city as the previous competition.

There will be a total of 32 teams competing, including 16 men’s teams and 8 women’s teams, coming from all five continents to compete for the highest honor in university football in Jinjiang, China, and to bring the rest of the globe another outstanding competition.

According to Zunyi Wu, Vice Mayor of Jinjiang, “This top sport event will drive the growth of local sports industry and help create Jinjiang into a dynamic and prestigious sports city.” “This top sport event will help turn Jinjiang into a dynamic and prestigious sports city.”

Under the direction of FISU, the preparations for the event are currently well underway thanks to the collaborative efforts of the host city, the Federation of University Sports of China, and several other stakeholders. FISU is providing oversight for these activities.

The advertising of the event will get off to a running start with mascot Jingang Wolf touring cities and performing theme songs.

The first-time event saw 24 university teams – 16 male and 8 female – made up of 432 footballers battle it out for University World Cup honours at 14 different training and competition venues across the region.

The tournament was made up of eight university teams from Asia, five teams from the Americas, two teams from Oceania, one team from Africa and nine teams from Europe, where this year’s European Universities Football Championships were also used as qualifiers.

University of Ottawa

In the women’s final, which took place at Jinjiang Football Park Stadium on 30 November, Canada’s University of Ottawa emerged victorious following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Paulista University from Brazil, with Mikayla Morton scoring the match-winning goal.

Women winners at 2019 FISU UWC

The two European teams in the competition, University of Lausanne (SUI) and the Siberian Federal University (RUS), battled it out for 7th/8th place, with the Russian side dominating their Swiss rivals following a comfortable 4-0 win.

In the men’s final, which took place at the same venue a day later in front of 7 500 spectators, University of Wollongong from Australia went head to head with Uruguay’s University of the Republic for the tournament’s gold medal.

Men's final

After University of the Republic’s captain Santiago Pallares Palomeque’s early strike was cancelled out by tournament top scorer Marcus Beattie, the final whistle saw the two sides deadlocked at 1-1 as the match went int extra time, where Pallares’ calmly-taken penalty seven minutes from time proved decisive as he led the Uruguayans to victory.

University of the Republic victorious

The highest-placed European university participant was Russia’s Smolensk State Academy who finished sixth, followed by eighth-placed University of Malaga (ESP). Julius Maximilians University of Wurzburg (GER) finished 9th, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (UKR) 10th, University of Split (CRO) ended 11th and Italy’s International University of Language & Media finished 14th. 

The first-time event is scheduled to take place every two years, with the next three editions taking place in the same city – Jinjiang – in China.