The 56th European Karate Championships will be held in Porec (Croatia) from May 19 to 23, 2021.

The 56th European Karate Championships will be held in Porec (Croatia) from May 19 to 23, 2021. The Executive Committee of the EKF has decided to award the organisation of European Karate’s biggest event to the Croatian national federation following the withdrawal of Sweden as the host of the event.

Initially scheduled to be held in Gothenburg (Sweden), the 2021 European Senior Championships had to be relocated due to the retraction of the Swedish Karate Federation to organise the tournament because of the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Croatian Karate Federation offered the appropriate conditions to guarantee the viability of the event and met all the requirements which had been established by the EKF, such as location in Central Europe to facilitate access from different parts of the continent, and experience hosting events under the special COVID-19 circumstances, among others.

The tournament will therefore be held in Porec (Croatia) from May 19 to 23, 2021. The city located on the occidental coast of the Istria peninsula was the venue of the 2020 WKF Youth Camp & Youth League prior to the cancellation of the event due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 WKF Youth Camp and one of the 2021 Karate 1-Youth League events are expected to take place in Porec next year.

The 56^th Senior European Championships are included in the Olympic Qualification process. The last edition of the event was held in 2019 in Guadalajara (Spain) after the cancellation of the 2020 Senior Championships in Baku (Azerbaijan).

“The Executive Committee defined precise parameters in order to assure the viability of the event taking into account the limitations imposed by the pandemic, including travelling,” said EKF and WKF President Antonio Espinós.

“I want to praise and thank the proactive attitude of the President of the Croatian Federation Davor Cipek, who immediately after knowing the situation, and in a record time, managed to secure the support of the Croatian authorities and institutions. He then proposed hosting the event together with the EKF, thus making things much easier from the very beginning. Situations like this demonstrate how united we are, how solid this unity is, and how strong this unity makes us,” added Mr Espinós.