The West African University Games (fr|Jeux Universitaires Ouest Africains), also known as the ECOWAS Students Games, is a multi-sport event between student-athletes from West African universities.[1] The competition was first held in 1965 in Ibadan, Nigeria, and has been held on a roughly once ever four to six years since 1989.[2]
The idea for the competition emerged from a conference of West African universities in 1964 in Ibadan.[3]
The last edition to be held was the 14th at the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, lasting from 31 October to 12 November 2018.[4] The 13th edition of the games in 2012 involved 1,443 athletes from 56 West African Universities (6 non-competing) from 5 West African nations. A total of 13 Olympic sports were contested.[5]
| Games | Year | Host country | Host city | Dates | Sports | Nations | Competitors | Universities | Medal table winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1965 | Nigeria | Ibadan[6] | |||||||
| II | 1967 | Ghana | Legon (Accra) | |||||||
| III | 1969 | Sierra Leone | ||||||||
| IV | 1971 | Nigeria | ||||||||
| V | 1973 | Ghana | ||||||||
| VI | 1975 | Nigeria | ||||||||
| VII | 1977 | Ivory Coast | ||||||||
| VIII | 1989 | Burkina Faso | ||||||||
| IX | 1995 | Nigeria | ||||||||
| X | 1999 | Benin | ||||||||
| XI | 2003 | Burkina Faso | ||||||||
| XII | 2008 | Ghana | ||||||||
| XIII | 2012 | Nigeria | 27 March – 7 April | |||||||
| XIV | 2018 | Nigeria | 31 October – 12 November | |||||||
| XV | 2023 | Nigeria | 16 December - 22 December |