The EJU has three tours for the 2022 ©European Judo Union

The European Judo Union’s (EJU) new tour format has been launched with competitions already taking place.

The new structure sees three Tours running - the European Judo Tour, Junior European Judo Tour and Cadet European Judo Tour.

A decision to alter the tour calendar was made following a review by the EJU found it was not effective from a marketing point of view.

The Sarajevo European Open of the European Judo Tour and Lignano Cadet European Cup of the Cadet European Judo Tour were the first events to take place on February 12 and 13.

The European Judo Tour has 16 events in total, breaking down into seven European Opens, eight Senior European Cups and one under 23 European Judo Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the Cadet European Judo Tour, 13 Cadet European Cups make up the vast majority of the 14 events on the tour with the European Judo Championships Cadets in the Croatian town of Porec being the other competition.

The Junior European Judo Tour, the third and final new tour, begins with the Coimbra Junior European Cup on March 19 and 20.

This also consists of 14 events, 13 of which are Junior European Cups and one European Judo Championships for Juniors in Prague, Czech Republic.

"We had about 100 events per season under one umbrella," said EJU vice-president Otto Kneitinger.

"From a marketing perspective and due to the lack of perception of different groups within our sport, this was not ideal."

Kneitinger says the event organisers of the new tours were able to cover the costs of the competitions due to each tour having a partner.

Zerno Zavolzhya of the retail and wholesale industry partners the European Judo Tour, SMP Group, who specialise in marketing communications, sponsors the Junior European Tour and Fox Fly Film, a news and documentary production company, is in partnership with the Cadet European Judo Tour.

"Due to our suppliers additional support, we are even able to deliver some required equipment free of charge," Kneitinger said.

The next event on the European Judo Tour calendar is the Warsaw European Open on February 26 and 27.

The Zagreb Cadet European Cup in Croatia is planned to be the second event on the Cadet European Judo Tour on March 12 and 13.