On July 23, the 17th edition of the summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) officially kicked off in Maribor, Slovenia. The multi-sport event features 11 disciplines in which 2.419 young athletes aged 14-18 years from 48 countries are competing. In total, the 6-day event sees the awarding of 688 medals. At the Opening ceremony, EOC President Spyros Capralos took the opportunity to state the relevance of the EYOF for the future generation of athletes to gain experience in competing on an international level and soaking in the Olympic spirit.
The European Youth Olympics Ambassador program and the Erasmus+ project “Active, Healthy and Happy Volunteers in Maribor EYOF 2023” are also running alongside the competitions. Likewise, the EOC Executive Committee meeting was also organised, as well as a working meeting among European National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to discuss successful examples of NOCs’ EU-funded projects, opportunities for collaborative partnerships, and lasting cooperation among European NOCs, in the future.