Władysławowo and Sarajevo awarded 2028 European Under 13 and Under 21 Championships: European youth table tennis and the gamble of an Olympic cycle

On a late August afternoon, while I was sorting through a pile of youth-tournament footage to prepare for the winter training camp, a short notice from the European Table Tennis Union appeared on my screen. The ETTU Executive Board had awarded hosting rights for two 2028 European Championships: the Under-13 event to Władysławowo, Poland, and the Under-21 event to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It was an administrative announcement. Dry. Short. No player names, no scores, no rankings. For most sports readers it passes in three seconds. But for me, someone who has spent 36 years in arenas and video rooms, that notice opened a much larger question: why these two cities, and why 2028?

I am not writing this to applaud an administrative decision. I am writing because in the most seemingly boring announcements, people often overlook the signals about how a development system actually operates. European youth table tennis, at this very moment, is sending out a signal that few bother to read carefully.

The backdrop of a decision made in a meeting room

To understand this announcement, you need to know who the ETTU is. It is the continental governing body for table tennis in Europe, with the authority to allocate hosting rights for European championships. Its Executive Board is the decision-making body that approves events and policy. The hosting rights for the two 2028 events were awarded by that very Executive Board, in a session for which we have no detailed minutes.

The first thing to state clearly: this is a centralized governance action. A single decision, from a single council, awarding two hosting rights. There was no public vote, no published quantitative criteria, no list of losing candidates. For someone who observes systems professionally, the silence around how the decision was made is itself a data point.

In 2026, when I built a youth-midfielder evaluation model for a club, I learned something I repeat to myself every time I read an administrative notice: data does not replace the naked eye – it only gives the naked eye a map. The ETTU's map here plots two points: Władysławowo and Sarajevo. But the map does not say why those two points were chosen. To know that, you have to step off the map and into the story of each place.

Two venues, two very different stories

Let us start with the venues. Władysławowo is a coastal town in northern Poland, home to Cetniewo – one of Poland's best-known sports training centres, long used for training camps across multiple sports. Placing a European Under-13 championship at a training centre like Cetniewo carries an implication: the event is not just a competition, but also an occasion for the local youth development system to touch international standards.

Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will host the Under-21 event at Arena Hills. This is a far more notable choice. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a European table tennis powerhouse. It is not among the traditional table tennis nations such as Germany, Sweden, France or Romania. Awarding Sarajevo the Under-21 event – the age bracket transitioning to senior national teams – signals an intention to broaden the talent base beyond the traditional core.

These two venues represent two different logics. Władysławowo represents the logic of consolidating foundations: an established training centre, a country with an organizational system. Sarajevo represents the logic of expansion: a new market, an untapped region, an opportunity to plant seeds. When both logics appear at once in a single announcement, that is the mark of a deliberate strategy rather than a random pick.

Dissecting the decision: two events, two countries, one pipeline logic

What made me pause longest was not the names of the two cities, but the way the two events were split. An Under-13 event in Poland. An Under-21 event in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two very different age brackets, in two very different countries in terms of table tennis foundation.

Under-13 is the early-identification stage, where foundational technical habits form: grip, footwork patterns, reflexes on the first three shots. An Under-21 event is the transition stage, where a young player must prove they can step onto the senior stage. Placed side by side, the two events form a complete pipeline: early identification at Under-13, transition at Under-21. Lowering the age of international competition does not automatically create talent; it only creates an earlier stage.

2028 and the shadow of an Olympic year

One detail is easy to miss: 2028 is an Olympic year. The 2028 Summer Games will be held in Los Angeles. That places two European youth table tennis championships in a year when the entire sports world's attention will be pulled toward the United States. In an Olympic year, youth events tend to be overshadowed. For an Under-21 event especially, an Olympic year can create calendar conflicts: a 20-year-old preparing for Olympic qualification must weigh competing in the European Under-21 event against focusing on a larger goal. When an event is placed beside a larger event, you can see the real order of priorities.

The awarding mechanism and the transparency question

Hosting rights were awarded by the ETTU Executive Board – a governance-body discretionary mechanism, not a publicly quantified points-based process. This does not mean the decision was wrong. It only means the decision was not transparent about its basis. In sports governance, a lack of transparency about the basis often produces later consequences: a country not selected does not know what to improve; a country selected does not know why it won.

The geography of development: why the Balkans

Historically, European table tennis grew strongest in a few core zones: Germany, Sweden, France, Romania, Hungary, and part of Russia. The Balkans, despite a strong sports tradition, has never been a centre of European table tennis. Awarding a continental event to Sarajevo is one way to stimulate local development. But awarding hosting rights is not the same as building a development system. A tournament lasts a few days. A development system takes years. The pearl is not on the video; it is in how a kid stands after losing a point. Likewise, the legacy of a tournament lies not in the opening ceremony but in what remains after the stands are cleared.

The contrarian angle: what an administrative announcement does not say

There is an easy reading of this announcement: read it as good news. Two youth events awarded to two countries. European table tennis is investing in the future. But administrative announcements often hide more than they reveal. Four things are hidden: the criteria, the losing candidates, the preparation roadmap, and the question of legacy.

A truth about youth events: they do not create stars

A youth event lasting a few days, under special competition conditions, is rarely enough to judge a young player. It gives you a snapshot, not a film. My rule is three observations: see the kid play a good match, see the kid train, and see the kid in a defeat. Only then may you pick up the pen. At 52, I still believe a player can be read in three minutes of how they handle themselves without the ball – but to read those three minutes, I must have seen them in many different circumstances.

What I will track from now to 2028

Four milestones: the preparation progress of the two venues; the structure of the European youth calendar; the 2028 Olympic-year schedule; and, most importantly, transparency. If the ETTU publishes hosting-evaluation criteria in the future, that will be a governance shift.

Closing: a milestone, not a destination

The ETTU announcement is a milestone. It marks that two 2028 European youth championships have found their hosts. For me, the value of this announcement lies not in itself, but in the question it leaves behind: does Europe truly treat youth development as a priority, or is it just arranging the calendar to fill slots? The answer will not come from a press release. It will come from what happens in small arenas, in early-morning training sessions, in the silent years between two tournaments. And if someone asks whether I believe those two events will produce Europe's next great players, I will answer with another question: is anyone preparing for that right now, while the arena is still empty and no one is filming?