COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory to compete at Lodz 2022 ©Getty Images

COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory to compete at the Lodz 2022 European Universities Games, organisers have decided.

The European University Sports Association (EUSA) and local Organising Committee in Poland agreed on the measure a little more than six months out from the event.

Ensuring all participants are inoculated against COVID-19 will protect their health as well as the well-being of the local population, organisers hope.

The full COVID-19 protocol for the European Universities Games will be shown to EUSA members in the European spring, the continental body added.

Lodz 2022 is due to take place between July 17 and 30.

EUGenio is the mascot for the Lodz 2022 European Universities Games, where COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory ©EUSA
EUGenio is the mascot for the Lodz 2022 European Universities Games, where COVID-19 vaccination will be mandatory ©EUSA

Registration for the multi-sport event opened this month, with organisers eyeing a record attendance.

The current record for number of athletes at the Games was set in 2016 in Zagreb and Rijeka in Croatia, when nearly 5,500 competitors took part.

Lodz University of Technology, the main organiser of the 2022 event, has the capacity to host up to 6,000 athletes if needed.

Twenty disciplines are included on the programme - 3x3 basketball, badminton, basketball, beach handball, beach volleyball, chess, football, futsal, handball, judo, karate, kickboxing, muaythai, sport climbing, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water polo and sitting volleyball.