The Games were to be hosted at venues in cantons of Central Switzerland, including Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz, Uri, and Zug.

The Games were originally scheduled to be held 21–31 January 2021, but were postponed indefinitely on 31 August 2020 due to COVID-19.

[2] On 29 November 2021, only one week prior to the start of preliminary competition, it was announced that the 2021 Winter Universiade had been cancelled due to travel restrictions imposed by the Swiss government to prevent the spread of Omicron variant.

[3] Due to the cancellation, the handover to Lake Placid was held at a ceremony at the University of Turin in January 2022, concurrent with the lighting of the flame for the 2021 Summer World University Games in Chengdu (which, in May 2022, were subsequently postponed to 2023).

The name is a combination of the initials of "Winter Universiade" with the typical Swiss word ending "-li".