FISU President Oleg Matytsin says Budapest are back in the picture for the 2025 Summer Universiade ©Getty Images

Budapest is back in the picture to host the 2025 Summer Universiade, following Germany's failure to meet its September deadline to offer a designated city and government guarantees to the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

Having been the first to send a letter of intent, Germany was the front-runner to host the 32nd version of the flagship summer event, but now the contest is open again as FISU seek a firm offer before its Executive Board meeting in February.

"Germany has missed the deadline so we cannot wait," Matytsin told insidethegames during the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly here today.

"We received at the beginning of this year a letter of intention from Germany and it was going to present a final decision about the city in September.

"But they missed that date, and then we said at the steering committee meeting in September that we still haven't got a clear picture about what is going on in Germany, so we again officially continue our communication with Budapest.

"It is the Government that offers the guarantee but we need to know which city exactly will be the host, because our contract will be with the city.

"Budapest sent a letter of intent in June before the Naples Universiade, but then we limited them because at that time we had agreement with Germany.

Germany, which has sent a letter of interest in hosting the 2025 Summer Universiade, had a delegation present at this year's edition in Naples - but their proposals have stalled, letting Budapest into the picture ©Getty Images
Germany, which has sent a letter of interest in hosting the 2025 Summer Universiade, had a delegation present at this year's edition in Naples - but their proposals have stalled, letting Budapest into the picture ©Getty Images

"We are still waiting for the final decision, so now we openly discuss with other candidates.

"We have the same situation for Hungary and Germany now - we are waiting for the final letter of support from the Government.G

FISU is now looking for a guarantee from Budapest, or in the case of Germany - which sent a delegation to observe at the Naples Summer Universiade - a designated host city and guarantee, in time for its next Executive Board meeting in February following next month’s elections.

That timescale will offer FISU time to visit the city in question, meet with the relevant authorities and check that the reality on the ground matches the information in the bidding book.

"We are going to make a final decision about the 2025 Universiade after the Tokyo 2020 [Olympic] Games in September," Matytsin added.

In July, it was revealed that four German cities were in the running to host the 2025 Summer Universiade after FISU confirmed a letter of intent had been received from the German University Sports Federation.

But DLF subsequently reported that the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, was the only candidate.

The other applicants - Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin - had pulled out for varying reasons.