30th CESH Congress 2027 (Európai Sporttörténeti Társaság – European Committee for Sport History), 16-18. June, Budapest, Hungary
CESH (European Committee for Sport History) is one of the most significant international scholarly organizations bringing together researchers engaged in the history of sport, physical culture, and physical education. For several decades, it has organized high-quality, English-language conferences annually in various European countries. The planned event in Hungary would be a three-day academic conference, following the successful professional and organizational structure of previous congresses (such as the 2026 Rouen congress), implemented through domestic institutional cooperation, including the Hungarian Society of Sport Sciences and the Olympic Studies Research Centre to be established at the Hungarian University of Sports Science.
The central thematic framework of the conference, “Stars, War, and Sporting Stardom,” explores the historical interconnections of stardom, conflict, and representation in modern sport. The conference examines elite athletes and coaches as historical actors and as agents exerting social and cultural influence, emphasizing the socially transformative and innovative potential of sport.
The subthemes of the individual panels include: athletes and coaches as historical and social actors; sport, media, and representation (press, film, digital platforms); sport and politics, ideological conflicts, and “proxy wars”; competition, rivalry, and the use of war-related language in sport; and alternative spaces of sporting representation in the arts and popular culture. Olympic history research will be given a dedicated thematic section, with particular attention to the social, political, and cultural impacts of the Olympic Movement, as well as the changing interpretations of the Olympic ideal.
The program will consist of plenary lectures, thematic panel sessions, and roundtable discussions. Invited keynote speakers include Prof. Dr. Annette Hofmann, Professor at the German Sport University Cologne and former President of ISHPES, as well as a senior Hungarian scholar, expected to be Dr. Sándor Szakály. One thematic session of the conference will be dedicated to one of the greatest icons of Hungarian sport and his international legacy, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ferenc Puskás.
An important component of the event is a Youth Seminar, which will provide young researchers and doctoral students with opportunities for academic presentation, mentoring, and international networking. The conference will contribute to enhancing Hungary’s scientific and cultural visibility and to strengthening international cooperation in research, development, and innovation.
