The Torino 2025 Winter World University Games, organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), are finally being introduced to the world with the start of the international phase of the Torch Relay. The first stop was at the European Parliament in Brussels, where on Monday, September 23, the torch was received by the Vice President of the European Parliament, Sabine Verheyen, as part of the European Week of Sport #BEACTIVE.
Also present at the event was Marina Gancedo, a Spanish national hockey player and Erasmus student in Louvain la Neuve (BE).
This stage was made possible thanks to the valuable collaboration of EucA (European University College Association), a partner of the organizing Committee, which supports the promotion of the event and the values of sports within the European university community through its network of universities.
Designed with sustainability in mind, the Flame Relay protocol for the World University Games unfolds in three stages—international, national, and Piedmontese—and features stops at university campuses and places of cultural and tourist interest.
The international relay phase, which started today (September 23) in Brussels, will continue in Rabat, Morocco, where Torino and Rhine Ruhr will celebrate the torch handover during the FISU Executive Committee meeting on September 26–27. The torch will then return to Italy for the FISU-to-FederCUSI handover in Rome, where a virtual flash mob is planned. This event will involve 20 students/athletes and ex-students as torchbearers, representing the university sports movement across the country, in the presence of top Italian sports officials. From Rome, the tour will head to New York on October 14, participating with the Italian Government and the Piemonte Region in the Columbus Day Parade. It will then continue its institutional journey with a stop in Lausanne on October 22 at the University and FISU Headquarters.
The tour will return to Italy with stops in Trento on October 29, Milan on November 4, and Caivano and Salerno on November 8–9 (Salerno being the organizer of the 2026 European University Games). Throughout November, the torch will visit major campuses of Piedmontese universities and, in December, will arrive in the host municipalities of the Games.
Finally, the torch will return to Torino on January 13, 2025, for the Opening Ceremony that will officially launch the XXXII FISU World University Games Winter.
