SPORTOPIA 2025 – 100 Years of Workers’ Olympiads

A weekend between history, value-based sport, and a lived vision of the future

The first CSIT World Sports Games took place in Rimini (Italy) in 2008. In 2025, the eighth edition of the World Federation's games was held in Loutraki (Greece). The games have their origins in the so-called Workers' Olympiads. The first one took place in Frankfurt in 1925. The German CSIT partner RKB “Solidarität Deutschland 1896 Solidaritätsjugend” celebrated 100 years of workers' sports games in October, commemorating the origins of today's CSIT World Sports Games. Further info about the Workers Olympiads!

Anyone who visited the Neu-Isenburg sports park From October 1–5, 2025 could literally feel this special mixture of new beginnings, memories, and togetherness. SPORTOPIA was a lively tribute to the First International Workers’ Olympiads held in 1925. Just a few kilometers from the original site, the Frankfurter Waldstadion (today „Deutsche Bank Park“), mote then 1,000 participants from Germany and across Europe came together to celebrate the values of the workers’ sport movement: community, fairness, and social engagement.

At the heart of the event was the International Youth Exchange, where young people from several countries explored the links between sport, human rights, and anti-discrimination. Through workshops, discussions, and shared activities, a new generation of solidarity-minded athletes emerged.

The diverse program successfully bridged history and the present with Exhibitions and lectures on the history of the Workers’ Olympics, the premiere of the short film “Battle for the Earth”, the symbolic “100 Meters Forward!” slow cycling race and panels on Sport and Politics, featuring experts from journalism, research, and sports federations.

SPORTOPIA also offered plenty of action from the Dance Cup and referee-free football tournaments to hands-on sessions led by local and international clubs, showcasing sport’s power to unite and include.

Among the many honorary guests were also representatives from CSIT (Vice-President Thomas Zacharias) and CSIT member ASKÖ (President Hermann Krist), underlining how the spirit of the workers’ sports movement remains highly relevant today: Sport as a space for exchange, solidarity, and social responsibility.

As the festival came to a close, the organizers already looked to the future, aiming to establish regular national games and strengthen international cooperation. “With SPORTOPIA, the RKB has lived up to its responsibility across past, present, and future,” said RKB Vice President for Sport, Hanspeter Friede.

SPORTOPIA proved: Solidarity in sport is not an utopia – it’s reality.