The city of Székesfehérvár in Hungary has been granted the right to host the World University Championships (WUC) in American football in 2020.
With one of the goals of the Hungarian American Football Federation’s (MAFSZ) being the formation of a university team, this is a huge step.
Some might say historic.
This is the first time a Hungarian city is granted the opportunity to organize an international tournament.
FISU, the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (International University Sports Federation) was founded in 1949 and organizes summer and winter sporting events at the university level, as well as World University Championships.
This will be the fourth WUC American Football Championship. The inaugural event was held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 2014, one year after the sport officially became affiliated with FISU. The second championships were held in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2016, where Mexico took home the gold medal. The next WUC in American football will take place in Harbin, China in 2018.
Team Mexico wins American football WUC in 2016
Székesfehérvár city official Dr. Viktor Bóka emphasized the importance of the world championship since it may help make the sport popular than ever. Especially in Székesfehérvár, where the local team, the Fehérvár Enthroners is developing rapidly. In the past two years, they qualified from the lowest division in Hungary all the way up to the Hungarian Football League. Dr. Bóka said the tournament is a milestone for the city.
“Being the host of this tournament is an honor for us since Székesfehérvár is the first city in Hungary to organize a University World Championship. We will do our best to make the surroundings, the atmosphere and the infrastructure ideal for the tournament. It is going to be a challenge for the organizing committee to host 500 athletes and their escort in a high standard. However, we will be prepared!”
Dr. Bóka added that an organizing committee still needs to be established.
General Secretary of MAFSZ, Kornél Bachrathy agreed. Nevertheless, he mentioned other tasks that need to be done until 2020.
“The first steps will not be too exciting. We have to sign a contract with the FISU, and then pay the 4000 Euro license fee. Next step is to form a delegation, who will visit the World Championship next year in China. It is a FISU requirement. One of the most important tasks is to establish a Hungarian University Team. We are hoping to get some financial resources from the Ministry of Human Resources. We will only have the final participants at beginning of the year 2020. Until then we will only know which countries intend to take part. Hopefully, those teams that did not participate in the earlier tournaments will attend this time.”