On Wednesday, July 22nd 2015, European Universities Football Championship in Osijek held the first matches. Student sport took over Osijek, while in the evening , the students were presented at the official opening ceremony.
Two matches were played at the football field Elektra. The University Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek and the University of Stirling played the morning match. Croatian hosts did not failed and they beat the Scots with a score 3:0. The afternoon match was reserved for the University of Jyväskylä and the Gdańsk University of Technology. A strong Polish defense resulted with three yellow cards. Nevertheless, the game ended with a draw and without serious threats to the goal.
FC Olimpija also welcomed four student teams. The University of Franche-Comte and the Ural Federal University played the first match. Although the Russians had the opportunity to take a lead in the 44th minute, the French goalkeeper Cedric Leduc defended penalty shot. The French team used the same chance two minutes later and took the lead with a score 1:0 which they kept until the end of the match. The teams from the University of Minho and the University of Oslo played the second match. In this dynamic match, the Portuguese team won with the result 2:1.
Football fields Belisce and Visnjevac both hosted one match while the Pamukkale University and the University of Bochum had a day off. University of Almeria and the University Constantin Brunch played their first game at the football field Višnjevac. The Romanians celebrated with the result 0:1 and thereby took the first place in the group. The teams from Kuban State University and the University of Abo Akademi met in Belišće and, with a convincing victory of 5:1, the Russians took the first place in the group.
The female matches took place at the sports field Mursa. Only three matches were played because of the smaller number of teams. The French team of the University of Montpellier achieved first victory with a score 4:2. At the same time, two German teams from the University of Wurzburg and the University of Marburg had their match. Warzburg players won with a score of 3:2. In the last match of the first day, Ural Federal University and the University of Porto measured their powers. The Portuguese team won with a score 0:1.
The first day of Championship matches ended with the official opening ceremony of the European Universities Championship in football, at the Trg slobode in Osijek. With an interesting music and cultural program, students walked down the square representing their universities. In the company of respectable politicians and guests, a personal representative of the President of the Republic of Croatia Mr Zrinko Custonja declared the Championhip opened. The students danced with the band “The Red Roosters” and DJ Mario Roso, but soon headed to the University campus in order to rest for the following matches.
