Organized primarily as a cultural and a social event, the 1987 Universiade in Zagreb helped bring infrastructural renaissance to the capital city of Croatia and created the prerequisites for the significant advancement of Croatian sport as a whole.

[9] The tickets for the opening ceremony were free, but without them it was not possible to enter the event area – the athletics stadium of the Sports Park Mladost in Zagreb.

Croatian singer Damir Kedžo and the University of Zagreb’s choir Concordia discors performed the official song of the Games– As long as heart believes.

It is not easy to study and achieve good sporting results at the same time, and the very fact that they are participating makes all student athletes at the Games champions of hard work, faith, knowledge, and labor.

The hosts walked at the tail of the parade – Croatian students came from 16 universities from Zagreb, Osijek, Karlovac, Rijeka, Split, Pula, Vukovar and Dubrovnik.

Near the very end of tonight’s programme, after the young bell-ringers passed him the flag of EUSA, Daniel Moreno, representative of the next host of the European Universities Games – the Portuguese city of Coimbra, addressed the audience as well: ‘First of all, I would like to congratulate the Croatian Academic Sports Federation, Zagreb and Rijeka on these great European Universities Games 2016.

[12] The slogan Hearth believes, mind achieves, proclaims idea of dualism, which is integrated in the very proposal of the dual candidature of Zagreb and Rijeka, and its basic idea is officially explained as follows: "The slogan is the basic concept of the synergy of the heart and mind, two mighty organs of great contrast; however only through their joint work it is possible to achieve the proper functioning of the human body.

The concept of dualism and synergy of the heart and mind, promote all the key values that student sports represent: ratio, education, prudence, strength, energy, fighting spirit and love – characteristics that help young people achieve excellence in their academic and athletic lives.

Furthermore, these shapes denote the silhouette of “Zagi” (the exceptionally popular mascot of the Zagreb Universiade from 1987), and in the combination with the red colour of the heart portrays a flame as the symbol of the sporting and Olympic spirit.

Nine-member jury selected three finalists that were presented to the public who was offered the opportunity to make a final decision of the EUG 2016 mascot in the second round of the competition.