High-level sport: Liège / Louvain-la-Neuve, an alliance for excellence

Liège and Louvain-la-Neuve's bid to build a multidisciplinary sports centre of excellence was approved on 10 April by the Walloon Government as part of its recovery plan. This is a major project that will meet the needs of the high-level sports world in Wallonia. UCLouvain and ULiège had worked closely together to submit a unique project that would complement and federate Walloon sport.

The project, submitted by the "ASBL de gestion des centres sportifs du Sart Tilman" and the "Complexe sportif de Blocry", is supported by ULiège, UCLouvain and Adeps.

The Walloon Government has just granted an unprecedented subsidy in the field of sport, with a view to equipping the Liège sports centre:

• a 50-metre (Olympic) swimming pool, to provide top-level athletes with a suitable training area in the best possible conditions;
• an indoor velodrome, which will be the only facility of its kind in the south of the country;
• a centre for expertise and optimisation of sports performance, which will share complementary scientific expertise with the Louvain centre. This will involve assessment and training in the field of biomechanics, including movement analysis and strength assessment, neurology in movement analysis and injury prevention. 

The Louvain-la-Neuve sports centre will also benefit from part of the funding released by the Walloon government. It will be used to provide:

• an accommodation centre dedicated to high-level sportsmen and women, with hypoxia areas;
• a centre for expertise and optimisation of sporting performance, which will be shared with the Liège centre to complement its sporting expertise. This will involve the assessment and training of athletes in the field of exercise physiology, including hypoxic training, metabolic assessment and neurology linked to local neuromuscular analysis (strength platform, etc.).   

These facilities will be accessible to athletes with specific needs. 

The subsidy granted by Wallonia to the ASBL managing the Sart Tilman sports centres amounts to 48,830,737 euros (75%).

The subsidy granted to the Blocry sports complex amounts to 11,740,071 euros (75%).

The balance of the investment costs (25%) will be covered by the "Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles", one of the co-owners of the 2 university sports centres. 

ULiège is not responsible for any investment costs.

On the eve of our athletes competing in the Paris Olympic Games, this announcement is a real breath of optimism.

Contacts

Rudi Cloots, President of the Sart Tilman sports center management association

Anne Girin, Administrator