Dear Colleagues,

Dear Friends,

It was a real pleasure to see so many of you for our successful 53rd EOC General Assembly in Bucharest, Romania, on the 6th and 7th of June. The General Assembly was a good opportunity for us to reflect on the achievements and progress we have made in recent months, to look ahead to Paris 2024, but also, for us to strengthen our efforts in shaping a bright future for European sport.

The focus for all our National Olympic Committees (NOCs) is now on the upcoming Olympic Games, for which we can feel the anticipation building across the continent as we are less than a month away.

As we discussed in Bucharest, Paris 2024 may be the pinnacle, but there are also other events to look forward to which make this such an exciting time for European sport.

Following your ratification at the 53rd EOC General Assembly, the 4th European Games will take place in the vibrant sports-loving city of Istanbul. Working with our partners the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Turkish Olympic Committee, Istanbul 2027 will build further the huge success of Kraków-Małopolska 2023 and will elevate Europe’s premier multi-sport event, with more Olympic qualification opportunities increasing the impact of the European Games.

It was also a great honour to be joined by the Chair of the European Games 2023 Coordination Commission Hasan Arat in Warsaw in June. We were presented with the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in Warsaw by President Andrzej Duda. This provides recognition of our collective achievements in making Kraków-Małopolska 2023 such a memorable and successful European Games, and we were delighted to announce in Bucharest that there will be €3 million distributed directly to Europe’s NOCs due to its financial success. Clearly, we have set the bar high as we look to the future.

I wish you all the best for your final preparations for the Olympic Games, and I hope to see many of you in Paris with European successes to celebrate!

With EurOlympic regards,
President Spyros Capralos