Yekaterinburg was one of the cities that hosted matches during the 2018 FIFA World Cup ©Getty Images

The International University Sports Festival due to take place next year in Yekaterinburg is expected to attract up to 250,000 spectators, organisers in Sverdlovsk maintain.

The estimate concerning the event, which is due to run from August 19 to 31, was given to journalists by the Sverdlovsk region office, Russian news agency TASS reports.

The Festival was announced as part of a Russian-Chinese sporting initiative, entitled the Years of Russian-Chinese Cooperation in Sports in 2022 and 2023, which was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.

Yekaterinburg was to have hosted the 2023 Summer World University Games but that staging was suspended by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Instead the Chinese city of Chengdu, which was to have hosted in 2021, is now due to host the 32nd edition of the Games next year.

The Festival will take place at sports facilities that were built as part of the preparation of the region for the Summer World University Games.

Organisers claim the event will involve the participation of teams drawn from countries in the BRICS, SCO and CIS groups.

BRICS involves Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

SCO, an acronym for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, involves China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Organisers of next year's International University Sports Festival in Yekaterinburg, which was to have hosted the FISU Summer World University Games, will attract around 250,000 spectators ©Getty Images
Organisers of next year's International University Sports Festival in Yekaterinburg, which was to have hosted the FISU Summer World University Games, will attract around 250,000 spectators ©Getty Images

It is not yet clear which of these countries will or will not be participating.

The organisers claim: "A preliminary list of educational institutions that will become potential participants in the festival has already been prepared.

"It includes 246 universities from 94 countries of the world, including 23 universities in Russia.

"Athletes must be no younger than 17 years old and no older than 26 years old.

"The predicted number of athletes is 4,100, about 700 judges, up to 250,000 spectators.

"At least 6,000 volunteers will be involved in the work at the festival."

The festival is expected to involve 15 sports: badminton, 3x3 basketball, boxing, volleyball, judo, futsal, table tennis, swimming, beach volleyball, beach football, diving, sambo, wrestling, tennis and taekwondo.

A total of 189 sets of medals are due to be won.

"We are almost completely ready, the facilities are almost completed," the Governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, added.

"The Festival will be held in August 2023, in the midst of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Yekaterinburg."