ETTU Awards Władysławowo and Sarajevo the 2028 Hosting Rights: Europe's Youth Table Tennis Map Is Being Redrawn

In the official bulletin issued from the headquarters of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), two place names were called out at once: Władysławowo in Poland and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ETTU Executive Board awarded the hosting rights for the 2028 European Under 13 Championships to Władysławowo, and the 2028 European Under 21 Championships to Sarajevo. Skimmed quickly, this looks like a dry administrative decision — the kind most audiences skip past amid transfer news and elite matches. But to me it resembles a sidespin serve: the trajectory seems simple, yet the landing point sits in the future, all the way in 2028.

I cried when I mispronounced Rapinoe's name three times — but those tears were not from shame. They taught me that the smallest details, the hardest names to read, are where history is preserved. Władysławowo and Sarajevo are the same. They are not glamorous names. But they are telling us something about how European table tennis sees itself.

A two-tier pipeline

To understand this decision, one must look at the competition structure ETTU operates. Europe maintains a clear two-tier system for youth table tennis. The first tier is U13 — the age of early discovery, where foundational technical habits form: the grip, footwork patterns, reflexes in the first three shots. The second tier is U21 — the age of transition to the senior national team, where a young player either crosses the professional threshold or stays behind forever.

From my observation over years of following youth events, the very fact that ETTU maintains both age brackets in parallel is a deliberate signal. They are not running events just to have events. They are building a continuous pipeline from early identification to age-group transition. Assigning the two championships to two different countries — Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina — rather than concentrating them in a traditional powerhouse reveals an equitable-distribution logic, an effort to broaden the talent base.

I have had the chance to follow European youth matches as a commentator, and what I learned is this: European table tennis does not lack talent. It lacks the opportunity for talent to be seen. A U13 championship in Władysławowo will not produce a world champion. But it can produce a twelve-year-old who, for the first time, knows their dream has a stage. In a context where Asian table tennis still dominates the elite rankings, Europe's investment in its youth foundation is a long-term strategy, not a short-term reaction.

Cetniewo and Arena Hills: two landing points

Władysławowo sits on Poland's Baltic coast, and the Cetniewo sports centre there is a recognized training location. This is no random arena. Cetniewo has long been associated with Poland's training camps and development facilities. Choosing this site for U13 2028 carries a clear implication: the event may be leveraged as a showcase for the development system, not merely a competition. Poland, with its sporting tradition and training infrastructure, is an organizationally safe choice.

Sarajevo, with Arena Hills, is a different story. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a table tennis powerhouse. But awarding the U21 event — the most important transition age group — to a Balkan country shows ETTU wants to seed new and emerging markets. This is the landing point I watch most closely. Because if you want European table tennis to compete with Asia, you cannot only nurture the old centres. You must broaden the base, and sometimes bet on places that have never been in the spotlight.

Based on my experience following matches, a youth championship held in a new market often generates a larger ripple effect than in a saturated one. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a European U21 championship could be the largest table tennis event in years, drawing local media and school attention. In a country with an established tradition, it is merely a line on the calendar.

Commercial value versus competitive value

There is a paradox few state plainly. Continental youth championships bring almost no significant commercial value. No large prize money, no lucrative television contracts, no mass audience. Measured purely by commercial yardsticks, awarding hosting rights to Władysławowo and Sarajevo is an investment that does not pay off in the near term.

But this is precisely the blind spot of that view. Women's football does not need to be rescued. It needs to be seen with eyes that know how to see. And youth table tennis is the same. The true value of a U13 championship lies not in revenue, but in how it changes the way a child, a family, a locality views this sport. That is a form of value that cannot be measured by sponsorship contracts.

Another point worth noting: 2028 is an Olympic year — the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics. This places the two European youth championships in a post-selection window, when media attention and resources converge on the Olympics. There is a risk of calendar overlap, and another risk that the spotlight on youth events will dim. ETTU clearly accounted for this by fixing the schedule more than two years in advance, but betting on an Olympic year remains a calculated gamble.

A transparency gap

One detail troubles me. ETTU's announcement mentions no bidding competition, states no evaluation criteria, and names no rival candidates. The decision was made by the Executive Board — a discretionary mechanism of the governing body, not a process based on publicly published points.

This is not wrong. Sports federations often operate this way. But as someone who spent thirty years in the studio, I believe transparency is a form of long-term investment. When fans understand why a city was chosen, they bond more deeply with that event. The silence of the process may save time in the short run, but it also blurs a story ETTU could have told.

What is happening

The two 2028 championships will take place. That is nearly certain. The real question is not whether they will be held, but what trace they will leave after they end. An arena in Sarajevo could fall empty again after the event. Or it could become the place where a new generation of Balkan players learns to hold a paddle.

Age 51 is the milestone I chose to begin at. Age 60 is the proof that I never stop. And perhaps, for European youth table tennis, 2028 is a similar milestone — not an endpoint, but the starting point of a journey far longer than two weeks of competition. 90 days, 156 matches, and a 12-part series — I do not write about history, I am preserving it. The two 2028 championships are the same: they have not happened yet, but they have already begun to be preserved.