Development

UWW Renews '22 Referee Scholarship Programme

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 14) -- On behalf of the United World Wrestling Development Department, we are excited to renew the UWW Referee Scholarship Programme 2022.

The scholarship will cover your referee's local costs (full-board basis) and flight tickets to have a chance to attend the needed number of competitions and avoid the risk to be downgraded due to financial difficulties encountered by many national federations.

The offer will not cover the following:
- Visa fees
- Personal expenses

Rules and conditions:
- The scholarship programme is available only for NFs of developing countries with limited financial resources;
- The categories of candidates should be II, I or IS;
- The number of competitions per candidate you can apply is 2;
- The maximum number of candidatures that UWW can submit for the scholarship is 10 (2 competitions) or 15 (1 competition);
- The list of submitted candidates will be made according to the balance between male and female (50/50) in addition to the above-mentioned points. 

Deadline:
In order to confirm your participation, you must complete the enclosed UWW Referees Scholarship Programme Application Form and return it to me as soon as possible, but no later than 31 December 2021

Please be aware that due to a long waiting list, we will not be able to extend this offer after the aforementioned deadline.

We remind that only National Federations can submit the applications for approval. The decision on the applications will be made by Refereeing Commission of UWW no later than 30 January 2022.

#wrestlemanama

World C'ships 2026 to be held in October; U20 Worlds in Bratislava

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 8) -- United World Wrestling has officially confirmed the host city for the 2026 U20 World Championships and finalized the competition dates for the 2026 Senior World Championships.

In addition, the host for 2026 Asian Championships has also been shifted from Amman, Jordan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Bratislava, Slovakia, has been selected to host the 2026 U20 World Championships. Bratislava had successfully hosted the 2025 European Championships in April with sellout stadium. The U20 World Championships in 2026 are scheduled to take place from August 17 to 23 and a similar crowd is expected for the competition.

UWW also confirmed the competition window for the 2026 Senior World Championships to be hosted in Manama, Bahrain, which was announced as hosts during a ceremony held in Zagreb in September.

The World Championships are set to run from October 24 to November 1, providing nine days of action featuring the world’s top wrestlers.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Nenad LALOVIC had said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision."

The Asian Championships, originally scheduled in Amman will now be hosted by Bishkek from April 6 to 12.

The 2026 U15 & U20 Asian Championships have been moved from Bangkok to Pattaya.

The U17, U20 and senior African Championships will be held in Alexandria, Egypt from April 28 to May 3. In addition, the dates for the 2026 Pan-American Championships were also modified. The competition will now be held from May 7 to 10 in Coralville, Iowa, United States.

For the full 2026 calendar, visit uww.org/events.