The week started with the Sport sector seminar, led by EJU Vice President Hrvoje Lindi and Head Sport Director Catarina Rodriguez. 26 members of the Sport Commission were taking part, with a total of 10 thematic blocks on the programme over the two days. 

“We have invited our core team, who are responsible for the smooth running of our more than 100 EJU events in 2024 – from the Cadet European Cup, Junior European Cups, Senior European Cups and Senior European Opens to the European Championships. This team is the backbone of our events,” affirmed Vice President Hrvoje Lindi.

“We are talking about the past year and, of course, about the upcoming events. The aim must be to continuously raise our standards and to standardise the processes of the competitions in the best possible way, regardless of the country in which they are taking place. Each of our events should have a clear EJU signature and corresponding professionalism,” emphasised Catarina Rodrigues.

Seven European Hopes Judo Cup Under-15 events will be added to the 2024 programme. “We are testing a new competition format and want to gain experience. We believe this will give young athletes even better opportunities to develop.” Lindo said.

Then on December 6 numerous workshops took place to review the past season and prepare for 2024.

“The two workshop days are all about coordinating with the national associations in the best possible way – there is enough space to discuss challenges and opportunities in detail,” explained EJU Secretary General Martin Poiger. ““2024 promises to be a particularly challenging year. The number of EJU events will continue to rise, + 120, and attention will reach unrivalled heights”.

Besides The Hopes Judo Under-15, some other events like Veterans, Kata and Adaptive Judo Cups (Get-Together-Tour) will celebrate their premiere next year. Up to seven competitions are planned for each format.

On December 7 the focus was on Marketing, led by EJU Vice President, Mr Otto Kneitinger and EJU General Secretary, Mr Martin Poiger.

There were many points made and suggestions offered to the national federations, using examples from the past year, to enhance the presence of judo. Judo is of course part of the Olympic movement. Data provided demonstrated that in the Tokyo Olympic Games, judo was the third most ‘global’ sport with almost 400 athletes from 124 nations. Judo sat behind only athletics and aquatics which had 2000+ and 1400+ athletes respectively. This is a perfect example of how ‘global’ judo is and how wide its reach can be.

There were examples provided to generate sponsors and to attract new partners for the federations, with emphasis on numbers provided on social media with the extraordinary engagement from the younger generation. This was also reflected on JudoTV, highlighting the figures from the European Championships with viewership reaching almost two million, and cadet cups averaging 800,000. For this reason, and to continue to improve the service, the Head of Broadcasting and Venue Management, Mr Igor Vunjovic stated that there will be a minimal broadcasting service in the forecasted European Open tournaments in 2024, as well as all of the prime events. Already, this improved service debuted in the Senior European Championships in Montpellier, then again in the U23 European Championships in Potsdam.

European judo is currently taking a huge step forward. And it is not only the EJU that is benefiting from this, but also every single member, i.e. every national association. Last year, we financed 971,000 euros through the Solidarity Programme for the federations, and the same amount is contractually guaranteed for 2024.”, stated EJU Senior Vice President Otto Kneitinger. 

Finally on Friday, December 8 the one-day congress started in Belgrade.

“I am proud to welcome no fewer than 109 representatives from 48 countries as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations. I see this number as a vote of confidence in the Executive Committee and our work over the last 12 months,” said EJU President László TOTH at the start of the congress in Belgrade on Friday. “We have achieved a great deal together and have even more planned for next year. A total of 107 EJU events were staged in 2023, and we expect 125 EJU events in 2024.”

“We are working hand in hand, looking forward to the Olympic Games together. JudoTV.com has established itself very well in Europe. Almost 15 million views and 467,000 hours of live streaming at EJU events alone speak for themselves,” said IJF Director General Vlad MArinsecu, full of anticipation. “Our most important goal must be to make judo even more attractive for sponsors and fans,” noted Senior Vice President Otto Kneitinger.

Concluding the 75th EJU Ordinary Congress 2023, President of the San Marino Judo Federation, Mr Giuseppe Ragini took to the podium to address the national federation members and the Executive Committee and spoke about Federation Judo of San Marino.

On the eve of the European Club Championships 2023 and to celebrate the 75th EJU Ordinary Congress, the Serbian Judo Federation hosted the Executive Committee and National Federations for the Gala Dinner.

Special awards, in appreciation of support and collaboration with the EJU in 2022, were given to the partners and sponsors of the organisation. Present to accept their awards were Essimo, Ippon Gear and Vivatip, however we also recognised Adidas, Zebra Mats, Green Hill, Fuji Mats and Daedo.

The Best European Event of 2022 was awarded to the Georgia Judo Federation for their European Club Championships – Champions League in Gori. Accepting the award was vice president, Davit Kevkhishvili. Year after year, the Croatian Judo Federation continued to be one of the focal points on the tour, both in EJU and IJF, and so were awarded the Best European Organiser of 2022, accepted by president, Dr Sanda Corak.

The Plaque of Honour was awarded to Dr. Peter Smolders, Head Medical Commissioner, which was followed by the Award for Contribution to the Development of Education in 2022, recipients included Petra Orešković (Croatia) and Sanja Delladio (Croatia). Finally, the Fair Play Award was given to the 2023 European champion, Denis Vieru (Moldova).