European Games » EOC and the European Games History

The European Games is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Europe. The Games are owned, regulated and organized by the European Olympic Committees. The Games are held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the first edition in Baku 2015 was televised in 145 countries around the world.

The European Games help ensure Europe remains at the heart of world sport. Europe’s cities and National Olympic Committees have done so much to drive the world of sport forward. The European Games are a necessary and innovative means of maintaining Europe’s leading position in the world of sport.

A hotbed of sporting innovation, the European Games combine qualification opportunities in Olympic disciplines with non-Olympic disciplines and emerging successes like 3x3 basketball. Whilst behind the scenes, new ways of delivering, covering and enjoying the competitions help pioneer sports development.

Continental championships have long been a vital component of the four-year calendar for sports whose pinnacle is the Olympic Games. They began in continents with relatively few organised international competitions between neighbouring countries. The 1937 Pan American Games were followed by the Pacific Games, the African Games and the Asian Games.

In 2012 in Rome, the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees voted by a huge majority to create the European Games and the event was born just three years later, with Baku 2015. The European Games were welcomed at the Opening Ceremony by IOC President Thomas Bach as the “missing fifth ring” of competitions in the Olympic Movement.

Warning