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The EuroGames are an 
In terms of scale EuroGames range from 1,5 to cca 4 thousand (or exceptionally more) participants primarily from the West and South of Europe but also elsewhere (often Asian and American diasporic communities), most often with extra outreach support subsidies for less privileged participants. The EuroGames is most often an extended weekend event with opening and closing ceremonies, some of the sport, social, policy and cultural activities also happening on the days before. 
Since 2001, the EuroGames have existed in two versions: the big EuroGames and the small EuroGames. It was planned that these small Games would have a maximum of 1,500 participants and seven sports and would last two days. The "small" EuroGames Utrecht 2005 were an exception to this. Almost 3,000 participants, nine competition sports and three competition days made Utrecht, as the smallest organizing city until then, have the largest 'small' Games compared to Hannover and Copenhagen in 2001 and 2003 respectively.
The multi-sport championship took place from July 17 to 20, 2024, and included 4,000 participants from 90 countries, competing in 32 different disciplines. The City of Vienna, supported EuroGames Vienna 2024 extensivly with a subsidy of 150,000 euros, in addition to the provision of numerous sports venues and infrastructure. The program included an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and a five-day program at EuroGames village. A financial support program was set up to enable the participation of over 100 people from countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe where the LGBT community is still discriminated against. On the EuroGames opening day sports policy conference named “Out in Sport - How Sport can Unite and not Divide” included many prominent Austrian and few international speakers and was broadcast by national TV.
, the deputy mayor of Lyon in charge of sports, announced on Twitter, that the 2025 EuroGames would be held in Lyon from 23 to 26 July 2025. This is the first time the city hosts a European sports competition dedicated to the LGBT+ community, with a plan to bring together 4,000 athletes from over 40 countries in Europe and around the world to participate in over thirty sporting disciplines and cultural program, including tennis, football, rugby, synchronised swimming, pétanque, sailing, dance and choral singing, with the support of fifteen clubs affiliated to the OSL. The LGBT+ Sports Federation also pointed out that this event offers the opportunity "to exchange ideas and raise awareness among participants and spectators around themes such as LBGT+ handisport, the fight against serophobia, and notions of gender and sexual orientation".
European Gay And Lesbian Sport Federation
Archive of QueerSport.org - first European Gay And Lesbian Sports Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eurogames (Lgbt Sporting Event) LGBTQ sports events Recurring sporting events established in 1992 European international sports competitions Multi-sport events in Europe
LGBT+
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...
multi-sport event in Europe, licensed by the EGLSF (European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation) to a local city host each year and organised (most often) by one or more of the federation's member clubs. Similar to the Gay Games
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) athletes, artists and other individuals.
Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was s ...
, EuroGames are a sports-for-all event, open for participation irrespective of sex, age, sexual identity or physical ability. Additionally it often included less prominent non-olympic sports and disciplines catering to interest of LGBT+ communities like same-sex ballroom dance
Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...
, line dance
A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of dance step, steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each ot ...
, cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...
, aerobics
Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, Muscle, muscular strength, and ...
, bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is the practice of Resistance training, progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's skeletal muscle, muscles via muscle hypertrophy, hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to a ...
as well synchronised/artistic swimming
Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aq ...
with male participants, which was historically forbidden.
In terms of scale EuroGames range from 1,5 to cca 4 thousand (or exceptionally more) participants primarily from the West and South of Europe but also elsewhere (often Asian and American diasporic communities), most often with extra outreach support subsidies for less privileged participants. The EuroGames is most often an extended weekend event with opening and closing ceremonies, some of the sport, social, policy and cultural activities also happening on the days before.
History
The official name of the EuroGames is the European Gay and Lesbian Multi-Sports Championships. It is a Dutch initiative inspired by GayGames, first organized in The Hague in 1992. The EuroGames are a multi-day sporting event. They are organized annually in a European city, except in years when the global Gay Games take place. Since the advent of the World Outgames in 2006, this has been taken into account in determining whether or not a city is assigned to a particular year. In a year in which Gay Games and/or World Outgames take place, EuroGames generally do not take place. Like the Gay Games as well as the World Outgames, the EuroGames are open to everyone regardless of gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. When a competitive sport has not yet reached the maximum number of participants, participants from non-European countries are also admitted.
Since 2001, the EuroGames have existed in two versions: the big EuroGames and the small EuroGames. It was planned that these small Games would have a maximum of 1,500 participants and seven sports and would last two days. The "small" EuroGames Utrecht 2005 were an exception to this. Almost 3,000 participants, nine competition sports and three competition days made Utrecht, as the smallest organizing city until then, have the largest 'small' Games compared to Hannover and Copenhagen in 2001 and 2003 respectively.
Chronology
Bern 2023
The 2023 EuroGames took place inBern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
, Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
from 26 to 29 July 2023, with 20 sporting disciplines and over 2,000 athletes of various sexual orientations and gender identities participated in the event.
The sporting event included also demonstration sports like quidditch
Quidditch () is a fictional sport invented by author J. K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). In the series, Quidditch is portrayed as a dang ...
and local recreational hiking. Classic disciplines included tennis and bowling, but also other newer disciplines such as street workout, the Hyrox challenge and many other activities were scheduled.
For the occasion The city of Bern has had to deactivate its Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
comment function following homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
comments, notably from the Swiss Young SVP party. The youth branch of the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland has indicated that they are considering filing a complaint.
Jasmine Imboden and Greg Zwygart were co-presidents of 2023 EuroGames association. According to Greg Zwygart, the EuroGames is an inclusive sport event, also for heterosexual athletes. The event includes trans and intersex people even though these categories of people are not present in some sport disciplines.
EuroGames 2023 hosting impacted Bern Pride to have exceptionally big Village and elaborate multi-day and multi-vanue program mostly with local talent and few guests.
Vienna 2024
EuroGames Vienna 2024 had its kick-off event as a part of Vienna Pride programs on June 9, 2023 at the Vienna City Hall.
The multi-sport championship took place from July 17 to 20, 2024, and included 4,000 participants from 90 countries, competing in 32 different disciplines. The City of Vienna, supported EuroGames Vienna 2024 extensivly with a subsidy of 150,000 euros, in addition to the provision of numerous sports venues and infrastructure. The program included an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and a five-day program at EuroGames village. A financial support program was set up to enable the participation of over 100 people from countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe where the LGBT community is still discriminated against. On the EuroGames opening day sports policy conference named “Out in Sport - How Sport can Unite and not Divide” included many prominent Austrian and few international speakers and was broadcast by national TV.
Lyon 2025
, the deputy mayor of Lyon in charge of sports, announced on Twitter, that the 2025 EuroGames would be held in Lyon from 23 to 26 July 2025. This is the first time the city hosts a European sports competition dedicated to the LGBT+ community, with a plan to bring together 4,000 athletes from over 40 countries in Europe and around the world to participate in over thirty sporting disciplines and cultural program, including tennis, football, rugby, synchronised swimming, pétanque, sailing, dance and choral singing, with the support of fifteen clubs affiliated to the OSL. The LGBT+ Sports Federation also pointed out that this event offers the opportunity "to exchange ideas and raise awareness among participants and spectators around themes such as LBGT+ handisport, the fight against serophobia, and notions of gender and sexual orientation".
See also
*Europride
EuroPride is a pan-European identity, pan-European international event dedicated to Gay pride, LGBT pride, hosted by a different European city each year. The host city is usually one with an established gay pride, pride event or a significan ...
* Gay Games
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) athletes, artists and other individuals.
Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was s ...
/ Federation of Gay Games
* Principle 6 campaign
* World Outgames / Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association
* WorldPride
References
External links
*European Gay And Lesbian Sport Federation
Archive of QueerSport.org - first European Gay And Lesbian Sports Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eurogames (Lgbt Sporting Event) LGBTQ sports events Recurring sporting events established in 1992 European international sports competitions Multi-sport events in Europe