ETTU confirms table tennis spot on 2027 European Games in Istanbul

Table tennis has its place on the 2027 European Games program, and the real work now is about how prominent that place will be. European Table Tennis Union president Pedro Moura used a visit to WTT Feeder Istanbul to sit down with Prof. Dr. Veli Ozan Çakır, the Turkish Olympic Committee president and an ITTF vice president, to discuss preparations for Istanbul 2027, the sport’s role in the event and wider cooperation between the Turkish and European table tennis communities. Kerim Koç, president of the Türkiye Table Tennis Association, also joined the meeting.

The timing matters because Istanbul 2027 is no ordinary stop on the calendar. ETTU says the fourth European Games will be staged in June 2027 and will feature 26 sports and disciplines, including 22 Olympic sports linked to the Los Angeles 2028 program. Table tennis is confirmed on the lineup, with five medal events: men’s team, women’s team, men’s singles, women’s singles and mixed doubles.

That confirmation carries practical weight across Europe. ETTU says the event is expected to be part of the qualification pathway, with direct quota places and ranking-based opportunities on offer. For national federations, that means planning does not wait for the opening ceremony. Selection decisions, ranking targets and funding priorities are already being shaped by the prospect of Istanbul 2027, especially with ETTU’s current European rankings updated on 8 May 2026.

The meeting also underlined Türkiye’s rising status as a reliable host for international table tennis. Çakır, elected president of Türkiye’s National Olympic Committee on 4 April 2026, leads an organization that says it has represented the Olympic Movement in Türkiye for more than a century. In host-city terms, that kind of institutional experience matters. The IOC says Olympic host projects are assessed in part on existing venues, sports-event experience, accommodation capacity, transport infrastructure and safety and security, all areas that help explain why infrastructure came up as a central theme in Istanbul.

For the European table tennis movement, this was about more than one tournament. By engaging the host side early, ETTU is trying to secure a strong role for the sport inside a larger Olympic-adjacent calendar and to keep table tennis visible as the program takes shape. Türkiye has already remained active on the international circuit this year through WTT Youth Contender Cappadocia and WTT Feeder Cappadocia, with WTT Feeder Istanbul also listed in ITTF rankings publication notes. The message from Istanbul was clear: table tennis is already part of the room where the 2027 Games are being built.