Eric Kersten is the brainchild of the EPC which will see 10 Para sports staged simultaneously in one host city for the first time.

Rotterdam in The Netherlands is set to play host to approximately 1,500 athletes from 45 countries who will be aiming to either boost their bid for a place at next year’s Paralympics in Paris or secure direct qualification.

Kersten came up with the idea of establishing the EPC following the inaugural edition of the European Championships in 2018 which saw able-bodied athletes compete across seven sports in Glasgow.

Since then, Kersten admitted that he had faced "a lot of struggles and challenges" to turn his dream into a reality.

"First of all we had to convince the International Federations (IFs) that they should be part of the European Para Championships family," Kersten told insidethegames.

"You always begin with one sport and then you add another and another so it’s great to have all 10 sports here.

"It was a challenge to convince people about something that wasn’t there, this is completely new.

"We had no pictures, no figures, nothing so I am also proud of the 300 to 400 people working here as well as the 400 volunteers.

"It’s great to see the reaction of the athletes, IFs, National Paralympic Committees and all the important guests.

"They cannot believe their eyes and that’s the biggest compliment you can get."

Kersten revealed that a budget of €30 million (£26 million/$33 million) had been set to deliver the EPC which he admitted was "a lot for Para sport" but was confident that the event would pay off for those participating in Rotterdam.

"The main goal of this event is to attract more people and make Para sport more familiar with the general public," said Kersten.

"That’s why we create city centre courts to bring the sport to the people and to attract more media so there are more eyeballs.

"Looking at the list of broadcasters, we are there in India and Brazil which is great.

"With respect to a single Para judo event or a single wheelchair basketball event, normally they would not get exposure in India and Brazil.

"We want to spread the word and I think we can add value for the athletes because we bring them the facilities, the city, the transportation and the hotels.

"I think we can also add value for the IFs because we feel that it is hard for them to find promoters to organise their events and in this case they can profit from the other sports as well.

"If you are going to see a boccia event and there’s a break you can look at wheelchair basketball and visa-versa.

"We visited all the single European Championships that we are organising now as a whole and I am quite confident that we can give the athletes and the IFs a superb event with great facilities and great media coverage.

"I am very excited.

"We have worked for four years on this so it’s great to see it come alive."

The 10-strong sports programme features Para archery, Para badminton, boccia, Para cycling, goalball, Para judo, shooting Para sports, Para taekwondo, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis.

Competition is due to begin tomorrow and run until August 20.