The three-day competition featured 13 men's and 13 women's athletics events and took place over two morning and three afternoon sessions.

[2] The decision of Belgrade as the host-city was announced on 4 May 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, beating bids from Istanbul and Polish city Toruń.

The host nation's leading athlete was Ivana Španović, who returned to defend her European indoor title in the long jump.

The event mascot was decided by competition among Serbian schoolchildren, with the winning design coming from Sladjana Ljubic.

The event logo was simply a stylised version of the phrase "Belgrade 2017", rendered in a font resembling the natural straights and curves of an athletics track.