Today, Sant Cugat del Vallès hosted the opening ceremony of the 42nd Catalan University Championships (CCU), the leading university sports competition in Catalonia, an event that involves all twelve Catalan universities and is being coordinated this academic year by Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), with Sant Cugat del Vallès as the host city.

The ceremony, held in the Sala Clavé at La Unió Cultural Centre, was presided over by UIC Rector Alfonso Méndiz, alongside the mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Mr Josep Maria Vallès, and César Thovar, the Barcelona regional representative for Sport in the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Sport. Also present at the event were Núria Escamilla, Sant Cugat Municipal Council’s councillor for Culture and Sport; Carme Ardid, councillor for Education, Universities and Multiculturalism; Esther Jiménez, vice-rector for Students and Sustainability at UIC; and representatives from the Catalan universities and the university sports community across Catalonia. This initiative highlights the role of sport as an integral part of the students’ holistic education.
 

Sant Cugat: University Sports City

The ceremony’s most symbolic moment was the handover of the Championships flag, which the Rector personally presented to the mayor of the city. The flag is inspired by the rose window from the Sant Cugat Monastery, one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. He was also presented with a smaller replica of the flag.

Thirteen years ago, UIC also proclaimed Sant Cugat University Sports City. “In this 42nd edition, our university is once again coordinating the Championships, bringing us back to where it all began: Sant Cugat del Vallès, where the links between universities and sport have always been strong,” remarked Rector Alfonso Méndiz during the opening ceremony. The Rector explained that this designation “shows that the host city offers much more than just its sports facilities”.

“Choosing Sant Cugat to host the Catalan University Championships highlights the qualities that make it a City of Opportunities. The city has many strengths, two of which are sport and education,” stated Mayor Josep M. Vallès. The mayor expressed his satisfaction at hosting the Championships for the second time and at “being able to welcome these thousands of university athletes to our facilities, where they’ll also have the opportunity to enjoy our city”.

Roser Santigosa, director of Student Services at UIC, was charged with presenting this year’s line-up of sports competitions, which includes six team sports for men and women, 28 individual sports and six complementary sports programmes. Among the scheduled events, she highlighted the UNIRUN, the iconic popular race taking place on Sunday 7 March. One of the defining characteristics of the Championships is their geographical reach, with competitions taking place across 16 municipalities in Catalonia. Sant Cugat del Vallès will host the team competitions, while the individual events will take place in the other 15 municipalities. The project also promotes the use of Catalan as its working language, more sustainable and efficient transport for athletes and initiatives that encourage participation and interest across the entire university community.

César Thovar, the Barcelona regional representative for Sport in the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Sport, also addressed the attendees, stressing that “sport is not a complementary activity but an integral part of university life”. He also encouraged the athletes to compete with ambition while also enjoying the experience and the friendships it brings.

In his closing remarks, Rector Alfonso Méndiz argued in favour of the educational value of sport. “Sport brings us face to face with a very tangible reality: there is a gap between what we want to achieve and what we are capable of doing. And it is by working to bridge this gap that we build a culture of hard work,” he remarked. Méndiz added that these experiences “may not show up on an academic record but contribute enormously to shaping the people we eventually become”.

A distinction rooted in Sant Cugat

The University Sports City designation was established thirteen years ago, the last time UIC coordinated the Championships, an edition in which Sant Cugat was also host. This year, UIC takes over from the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia in coordinating a competition that has been held since 1986 and fosters participation in sport, the educational values of sport and a sense of community among university students.

Competition schedule

The team sports competitions will begin on Wednesday 3 February, turning Sant Cugat into a University Sports City throughout February and March. The Championships are organised by ECU (Catalan University Sports), of which Catalonia’s 12 universities are members, and are promoted by the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Sport.

The Catalan University Championships are one of the most important university sporting events and involve all Catalan universities. The competition is structured into individual competitions and team competitions. The individual competitions will take place mainly during the first semester of the academic year. The team competitions will take place between February and March over nine match days, bringing together around 2,000 athletes from 120 teams representing Catalonia’s 12 universities at various sports facilities across Sant Cugat.