100 days to go, team sports are drawn!

A countdown that began almost four years ago enters its final 100 days on Monday as the sporting world assembles in Germany for the Team Draw of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games. The world’s top university sport administrators and a stellar guest list - including 3x3 Olympic champion Sonja Greinacher and Parliamentary State Secretary Mahmut Özdemir - will see the first match-ups determined in basketball, volleyball and water polo.

An occasion this big needs something special as a setting, and what better place than a gargantuan airship hanger in Mülheim an der Ruhr? With representatives of 65 countries watching on and the airship looking down, the show began inside the ‘Luftschiffhangar’ at 18:45 CEST, when two-time Olympian Alexander Radovic hit the buzzer on the water polo draw.

Volleyball followed at 19:04 CEST with beach volleyball star Karla Borger on stage, with basketball and Greinacher – fresh from Germany’s 3x3 gold medal win in Paris - rounding out the event from 19:20 CEST.

The Team Draw show forms part of the official Welcome Dinner of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 Spring Heads of Delegation Meeting, which runs from 6 to 11 April at the Hilton Hotel in Düsseldorf.

These are the groups of team sports

Note: The team draw results are preliminary until signed by the technical officials.

Water polo:

Two groups of four (eight teams in total) in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Matches to be played in Duisburg from 17 to 26 July.

Men's Tournament

Women's Tournament

Volleyball:

Four groups of four (16 teams in total) in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Matches to be played in Berlin from 16 to 24 July.

Men's Tournament

Women's Tournament

Basketball:

Four groups of four (16 teams in total) in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Matches to be played in Duisburg, Essen and Hagen from 18 to 26 July.

Men's Tournament

Women's Tournament

© Photos: (1) Arndt Falter; (2-4) FISU