European Championships (multi-sport event)

European Championships

Area served	Europe
Membership	7 sports federations
Website	EuropeanChampionships.com

The European Championships is a multi-sport event which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, Germany and Glasgow, Scotland, Great Britain between 2 and 12 August. European Championships in these sports held outside this quadrennial framework (annually in the cases of cycling, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon; biennially in the case of athletics and aquatics) are unaffected.

Overview

European Championships Management, co-founded by Paul Bristow and Marc Joerg, developed the event concept, and manages and implements the European Championships on behalf of the participating Federations.^[1] The 2018 European Athletics Championships were held in Berlin, while Glasgow hosted the Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon along with a new European Golf Team Championships.

The championships were being staged under one new brand with the 'Mark of a Champion', a star-like logo.^[2][3][4]

The European Broadcasting Union is a key partner in the event, broadcasting across Europe's free to air channels via its Eurovision Network, with an estimated audience of 1.03 billion. It is also being broadcast across radio and multiple digital platforms.^[5]

This competition is not related to the European Games which are organised by the European Olympic Committees.

First edition (2018)

The European governing bodies for athletics, aquatics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon, will co-ordinate their individual continental championships as part of the first edition^[6][7][8] between 2 and 12 August 2018, hosted by the cities of Berlin (already chosen as the host for the 2018 European Athletics Championships^[9]) and Glasgow (already chosen as the host for the 2018 European Aquatics Championships,^[10] and which will now also host the events of the other sports).^[11][12]

The initial participating continental governing bodies, and championships, are:

• European Athletics organizing the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany
• Ligue Européenne de Natation organizing the 2018 European Aquatics Championships,
• Union Européenne de Cyclisme organizing the 2018 European Cycling Championships, bringing together the individual Track, Road, Mountain Biking and BMX championships of the continent,
• FISA organizing the 2018 European Rowing Championships,
• European Triathlon Union organizing the European Triathlon Championships, and
• European Union of Gymnastics organizing the 2018 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, all in Glasgow, Scotland
• European Tour and Ladies European Tour organizing the inaugural European Golf Team Championships, in Gleneagles, Scotland.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU),^[13] the umbrella body for the continent’s free-to-air channels, will be the broadcast partner for the combined championships, which are expected to generate more than 2700 hours of programming. Athletics alone, expects a 20% rise in television viewing figures compared to a traditional single-sport European Athletics Championships.^[14]

All of Europe’s major free-to-air broadcasters will televise the European Championships in 2018.^[15][16] The European Broadcasting Union, which holds the broadcast rights on all platforms, has confirmed coverage across the top five markets, BBC in the United Kingdom, ARD/ZDF in Germany, France Televisions in France, RAI in Italy and TVE in Spain. Other EBU members already signed up include VRT (Belgium), HRT (Croatia), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland), RTÉ (Ireland), NOS (Netherlands), NRK (Norway), TVP (Poland), SRG SSR (Switzerland) and SVT/TV4 (Sweden). The level of coverage is also enhanced by a deal with Eurosport. In total, over 40 EBU members have signed agreements as of April 2018. Discussions are ongoing with broadcasters in the remaining territories in Europe, plus other global territories like China, Japan and USA.^[17]

Glasgow 2018 has five Official Partners (People Make Glasgow, Scottish Government, Strathmore Water, Spar & Eurovision) and Berlin 2018 has six Official Partners (Spar, Le Gruyère, Nike, Toyo Tires, Generali & Eurovision) with another tier of Official Supporters across the two host cities. Overall over 56 companies have been signed up to support the inaugural event.^[18][19]

To be staged between 2 and 12 August 2018, around 1,500 athletes will compete at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, whilst at the same time more than 3,000 will take part in the other championships in Glasgow. Each European Championship will be organised by the respective federation and host city.

On 1 August 2018, at the Opening Party in Glasgow, a new European Championship Trophy was unveiled, to be awarded to the nation achieving the most gold medals across all seven sports during the Championships. It was presented by Katherine Grainger, Emma Fredh and Angelina Melnikova on behalf of the seven European federations involved in the event.^[20]

Second edition (2022)

The second edition of the European Championships is planned for summer of 2022 with the host venue selection process currently underway.^[21]

The first step in the bidding process for 2022 was the distribution of the official Bid Information Document to interested parties, with a preliminary questionnaire to be submitted. The participating European Sports Federations are expected to announce the 2022 hosts after the first edition in August 2018.^[22]

Possible bids include:

• Brussels and Eindhoven, Belgium and The Netherlands
• Hamburg, Germany^[23] (Athletics in Aarhus, Denmark, London or Vienna, Austria)
• London, United Kingdom^[24] (to avoid two consencutive european athletics championships in Germany if other sports would hosted there)
• Katowice, Poznan and Pruszków, Poland^[25]
• Rome, Italy^[26]
• North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany^[27] (Athletics in Aarhus, Denmark, London or Vienna, Austria)
• Berlin, Germany^[28] (Athletics in Aarhus, Denmark, London or Vienna, Austria)
• Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden^[29]

History

European Athletics, Ligue Européenne de Natation, Union Européenne de Cyclisme, FISA and the European Triathlon Union agreed in 2015 to organise their individual championships as part of the European Championships.^[30][31] The individual federations and the host cities will organise the individual championships with a co-ordinated timetable and a unifying common brand. The championships that will be included are the European Athletics Championships, the European Aquatics Championships, the European Cycling Championships, the European Rowing Championships, and the European Triathlon Championships as well as the European Gymnastics Championships and the new European Golf Team Championships. Both gymnastics and golf formally joined the new event on 23 October 2015.^[32][33]

Host cities

List of Championships

The best Nation receive the European Championships Trophy

Year	Host cities	Host Countries	Events	Dates	European Championships Trophy Medal Table
					Winner	Second	Third
2018	Glasgow Berlin,	Great Britain & N.I.  Germany	187	2–12 August	Russia	Great Britain	Italy
2022	TBA	TBA	TBA

See also

• European Championship

References