Portugal to host Clash of the Clubs III
23 February 2024

The third edition of the Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) U20 Clubs competition, dubbed the Clash of the Clubs III, has been scheduled to take place in Pombal, Portugal, on 21-22 September 2024.

European Athletics has invited Member Federations to send club teams to the event, which has quickly become a popular end-of-season tradition and a unique opportunity for young club athletes to earn international bragging rights.

The deadline for the expression of interest is Friday, 1 March.

Located close to the Atlantic coast approximately midway between Portugal’s capital city Lisbon to the south and Porto to the north, host city Pombal’s late summer weather in can be expected to provide excellent conditions for what is likely to be the final competition of the 2024 season for many of the participants.

Introduced nearly six years ago, the innovative DNA format – featuring mixed-gender teams, a compact timetable, everything counts, head-to-head competition in the field events and a match result that is open to the very last event – has proven to be popular with young athletes through out Europe.

Nearly 400 U20 category athletes representing club teams from 14 countries have competed in the first two editions of the Clash of the Clubs – Castellon, Spain, in 2022 and Rome in 2023 – and post-event surveys showed high levels of satisfaction with both the event experience and the DNA concept.

In addition, six national U20 teams took part in last year’s inaugural DNA U20 Indoors showcase match in Madrid and a number of countries have introduced DNA as a part of their national age group competition systems.

In Pombal, the programme for the preliminary matches on Day 1 and the finals on Day 2 will comprise a mixed 4×400 relay followed by 10 individual disciplines (five for men, five for women) for which points will be collected to determine the start order and time gaps in the final relay, which will determine the overall match winner.

As with the first two editions of the Clash of the Clubs, the media strategy will be to lift the event profile and audience reach above the expectations for any other U20 competition and help to create new stars for our sport.

All matches will be live-streamed and highly visible content will be published on social media to promote the event, the competing clubs and the top participating athletes.

In addition, all competitors will be encouraged to bring their smartphones to the event, including onto the infield during the competition itself, to share their excitement and bring their followers as close as possible to the experience.

Interested federations should contact José Luis de Carlos joseluis.decarlos@european-athletics.org by Friday 1 March 2024.