Wide media coverage of the event with 500,000 live streaming hits.
At the Fiera di Torreano di Martignacco, in the ICE arena set up in Hall 6 for the men’s ice hockey tournament, the 16th winter, snow and ice edition of the EYOF2023 came to an end. On a Saturday afternoon at the end of January, all athletes and delegations from the 47 European National Olympic Committees gathered for the closing ceremony, where they all marched together. After the greetings of the President of the European Olympic Committees, the Greek Spyros Capralos, who highlighted the important presence of the Ukrainian team at the Games hosted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. Sport unites and includes, and at this edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival we proved it once again.
When handing over the European Olympic flag of Friuli Venezia Giulia to Borjomi and Bakuriani in Georgia, the country that will host the next winter edition of the EYOF in 2025, the President of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, said he was honoured to have hosted this great European sporting event in the region, where all European values are present and which we need to preserve like never before. The EYOF2023 was also an excellent international showcase for our region and I hope, Fedriga concluded, that the main European and international sporting bodies will consider our region as a venue for future international sporting events.
The media response to the EYOF2023 was more than positive. Almost 150 accredited national and international media and press representatives. During the eight days of the event, there were daily live broadcasts and in-depth reports from all the venues involved on the news and radio news programmes of RAI TGR FVG, with broadcasting also on the RAI platforms and social networks and with the realisation of several reports for the RAI sports news bulletins. International dissemination was widespread thanks to the work of the European Olympic Committees Press Office, CONI and the various press offices of the 47 National Olympic Committees present. National and foreign winter sports magazines and press agencies produced daily editorial content. The same work was done by various radio and television stations, which were involved in the daily dissemination of news and media material in the form of services, columns, special programmes and focal points, such as Telefriuli, UdineseTv and the wide coverage of the three major daily newspapers in the region: Messaggero Veneto, il Piccolo and il Gazzettino.The EYOF2023 was a digital and media event, also thanks to the daily live streaming LIVE of the competitions from the 12 participating venues on eyof2023.it, which recorded a total of 500,000 views. Already after the first day of competition, the views surpassed those of the previous edition in Vuokatti, Finland. Highlights and social content, widely distributed through the event’s official channels, completed the media coverage of the event.
For Maurizio Dunnhofer, chair of the EYOF2023 Executive Committee, the region proved that it is up to the task of organising major international sporting events. It was a difficult and complicated challenge that we met with conviction and determination. A new, mobile, cross-border format made everything much more cumbersome. Thousands of people had to be managed in 10 days with 12 competition venues in the region, Austria and Slovenia. Guests who had the opportunity to experience Friuli Venezia Giulia in all its beauty, from the sea to the mountains to the plains. All this was possible thanks to the 1200 volunteers who were exceptional and thanks to the valuable and crucial synergy with COE, CONI, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and all the municipalities involved.
The 2023 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Friuli Venezia Giulia was supported by the Department of Sport of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
In the photos you can see some moments of the closing ceremony.