A delegation from Rhine-Ruhr 2025 was in the Chinese city to see the Games take place from July 28 to August 8 as they prepare to stage the next summer edition.

Mahmut Özdemir, Secretary of State in Germany’s Ministry of Interior and Community, attended the Closing Ceremony of Chengdu 2021 along with FISU Executive Committee member Verena Burk, an academic senior councillor at the University of Tübingen.

They collected the FISU flag from the organisation’s Acting President Leonz Eder and secretary general and chief executive Eric Saintrond.

"At the Rhine-Ruhr FISU World University Games in the summer of 2025, we want to offer the international university sports athletes, guests and spectators outstanding sporting competition, unforgettable experiences and exciting exchanges and encounters," said Özdemir.

"Due to its dense network of sports facilities and scientific institutions, the Rhine-Ruhr region offers an excellent framework for hosting inspiring games in the long term and presenting Germany as a reliable host of major international sporting events."

Jörg Förster, chairman of the Board of the German University Sports Federation, added: "Together with our partners, we will organise a major event that combines sport and science in an exemplary way.

"The conceptual focus of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games is the symbiosis of social, ecological and economic sustainability as well as innovation and participation.

"Sport has the power to create mutual understanding, tolerance and friendship across all borders.

"With the Games in Germany, we want to contribute to this and make it possible to experience the values of sport that are important for society as a whole."

Rhine-Ruhr will be the second German host of the FISU Summer World University Games after Duisburg staged the event in 1989.

Bochum, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr have been chosen as the five hosts cities of the Games, scheduled to take place from July 16 to 27 in 2025.

The Closing Ceremony of Chengdu 2021 saw Rhine-Ruhr 2025 give a taste of the spirit of the Games in two years’ time with a cultural performance under the motto "Passionately Connected by Fire and Water".

An impressive dance show illustrated how a symbiotic community emerges from the opposing elements of fire and water.

"Both the FISU World University Games and the host region stand for this very symbiosis," Rhine-Ruhr 2025 chief executive Niklas Börger said.