Congress of Science in Sports Medicine in Tübingen 2026

As the former host of the 35th German Sports Medicine Congress in September 1997, Tübingen is pleased to once again serve as the host city for the scientific congress of German sports medicine in September 2026 29 years later.

Despite the significant rise in digital confe rence formats during the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person conferences continue to offer the scien tific community the opportunity to present the latest findings, engage in vivid discussions and foster contacts between established scientists and early-career researchers who are still developing their expertise in their respective disciplines. This intergenerational networking is only possible at in-person conferences and seems to be of parti cular importance for a relatively small field such as sports medicine. Furthermore, “scientific con ferences provide a sense of belonging and conti nuity to an academic community”, as S. Cranford mentioned on a former editorial on this topic (1). 
Scientific conferences also serve the purpose to disseminate evidence-based findings to the pub lic and society. In light of political developments and the pressure being exerted on the scientific community, this is more important than ever. The distortion and misrepresentation of scientific fin dings – particularly in areas affecting individual and planetary health – require a clear counter balance, which we can provide, at least in part, through such conference events in a visible and unbiased manner. 
The conception, planning, and support of scien tific conferences in the field of sports medicine are among the central tasks of the Scientific Board of the German Society for Sports Medicine and Pre vention (DGSP). Over the past years, the DGSP’s main conference has been subject to a variety of different concepts and formats. During the last two years, the Scientific Board of the DGSP has taken this development into account and has de fined key principles that will serve as the founda tion for the future organization of scientific con ferences in our field. Key priorities include a clear focus on our field of expertise, a high visibility of our central topics in sports medicine, rotating venues and hosting the event at our universities, a high degree of international participation, and the involvement of early-career researchers in the planning and organization of the conference. In accordance with these policies, the DGSP’s Scien tific Board, together with other colleagues from the German-speaking sports medicine commu nity, developed the new format of the German Congress of Science in Sports Medicine.

Among the new elements of the congress is a Pre Day, which is planned and organized by the Young DGSP. This event is designed to facilitate scientific exchange through interest group sessions and the presentation and discussion of planned and ongo ing studies at the project level.

A further new feature of the program at the main conference is the inclusion of selected short pre sentations in the plenary sessions, tailored to com plement the keynote lectures delivered there. The intention is, to further deepen the exchange bet ween established experts and our young resear chers. The official language of the main conference will be English, with the goal of increasingly en couraging colleagues from abroad to participate. 
In doing so, we are pursuing the long-term goal of establishing an internationally recognised and ambitious research community in Germany that makes a contribution of the highest standard to scientific knowledge, sports performance and public health. In our program planning, we ad dressed topics in the eight plenary sessions that are currently characterized by a high degree of dynamism in terms of both content and relevan ce. Furthermore, we are delighted that during the call-for-abstracts a considerable number of abs tracts with a broad spectrum of topics has been submitted.

The third part of the conference consists of a cli nical symposium, which will take place on the afternoon of September 25 and on the morning of September 26, 2026. This part will focus on cur rent “Hot topics in clinical sports medicine”. This symposium is also being held to mark the 50th an niversary of the Department of Sports Medicine at the University of Tübingen. 
The Science Board of the DGSP and the Program Committee of the congress agree that the success of the new format for the German Congress of Science in Sports Medicine depends to a large extent on the cooperation and participation of sports medicine institutes. We are therefore delighted that, despite the short time period of six months between the Sports Medicine and Health Sum mit in Hamburg in June 2025 and the call-for-abstracts for this conference almost 200 abstracts were submitted. This is an encouraging signal and shows us that a congress concept based on the motto ‘by the institutes, for the institutes’ can be successful. Nevertheless, the future will show whether the current format will prove to be sufficiently sustainable – a goal that requires the cooperation of all of us. 
I would like to thank everyone involved in the preparation and management of this conference: the Scientific Board of the DGSP, the Program Committee of our conference, the Young DGSP and the local conference organizing team, wi thout whom it would not have been possible to hold such an event on such tight time schedule. I would also like to thank the DGSP for its support for both the Pre-Day of the Young DGSP and the main conference, as well as the University of Tübingen, which has made the use of its facilities possible and provided logistical support for the conference. 
Tübingen is delighted and proud to be hosting a German Sports Medicine Congress once again after almost 30 years. We warmly welcome all participants and are expecting an excellent conference, a vivid exchange of scientific knowled ge and fruitful discussions in a friendly atmosphere.