EuroGames 2021, Copenhagen, Denmark.
At the end of July 2023, the EuroGames will take place in Bern with up to 3000 athletes. The major event is primarily aimed at LGBT participants (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and has been held annually in another European city since 1992.
From 26th to 29th July 2023, participants compete in a wide variety of sports, from badminton, athletics, floorball and volleyball to swimming and dancing. “The games should offer low-threshold access to sport and are open to all performance classes,” says Thomas Künzi from the EuroGames Bern club, who organizes the games. He emphasizes: “The EuroGames stand for diversity and inclusion in sport, so it is important to us to be able to welcome heterosexual athletes.”
With the finals of selected sports and a run, EuroGames 2023 will take place on Saturday, 29. July 2023 its peak. Pride Bern is planned for the same day with a move through the city center and a festival restaurant. “This allows the Bernese urban population to meet the LGBT community off the pitch,” says Künzi.
Bern is not only a sports city, but also a rainbow city with an active LGBT community. Therefore, we are very pleased to hold the EuroGames in July 2023 and to welcome athletes from all over the world, says City President Alec von Graffenried, “Since 2016, Bern has been a member of the Rainbow Cities Network, an international association of cities with the aim of achieving the legal and actual equality of LGBT people in all areas of life. The city of Bern promotes the diversity of its
Population – explicitly also of LGBT people. Bern is a colorful and cosmopolitan city in the heart of Europe and EuroGames 2023 offer an ideal opportunity to present ourselves as such.”
The games take place under the patronage of Gay & Lesbian Sport Bern (GLSBe), the Stadtbern sports club for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people and their friends. The event is organized by the EuroGames Bern association.
The EGLSF congratulates EuroGames Bern on its successful candidacy. “We are pleased to work with the Bernese OK of EuroGames 2023 and the member association GLSBe to offer our members and all European LGBT athletes a wonderful EuroGames experience in Bern in 2023,” says EGLSF Managing Director Sarah Townsend.
In 2021, the EuroGames will take place in Copenhagen, in 2022 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. After Zurich in 2000, Bern can bring the games to Switzerland for the second time.
