Manchester to host 2022 WDSF European Breaking Championships

The event, which will take place at Belle Vue Sports Village on 5-6 November, will see Europe’s top breakers bring their best moves and unique style to the dance floor. The audience are set to witness the most incredible action as the dancers go head-to-head, battling it out for the coveted European title. 

Some of the top male and female Olympic contenders including some of this season’s major event winners will come together to compete to be crowned European Champion.

All of the dancers will display their raw talent and mind-blowing moves to impress the WDSF judging panel. With the highest tariff ranking points on offer, the competitors will leave it all on the floor as they look to build their qualification positions on the road to Paris 2024, where Breaking will feature on the Olympic programme for the first time.

With Manchester hosting the first ever Olympic pathway event for Breaking in the UK, this is an excellent opportunity to showcase this new sport to the British public and inspire the next generation of young people to get involved. Breaking’s unique position within music, culture and sport allows it to be widely accessible and appealing to a youth audience. Oliver ‘Hooch’ Whittle, President of Breaking GB said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the 2022 WDSF European Breaking Championships. It’s a great opportunity for our homegrown talent to gain all-important ranking points on their journey to the Olympic Games.” Simon Morton, Director of Events at UK Sport said: “The UK has consistently proven itself as a global leader in hosting major sporting events. The chance to bring the WDSF European Breaking Championships to the UK for the first time, something which has been made possible thanks to National Lottery funding, is hugely exciting. With Breaking making its Olympic debut in Paris in less than two years, it’s great that sports fans from across the Northwest and beyond will have the chance to see some of the world’s best breakers up close.” 

Councillor John Hacking, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure, said: "We're pleased that our bid was accepted to host the 2022 WDSF European Breaking Championships and we're excited to welcome breakers and former world champions from across the continent to Manchester. Our city has a long history of hosting major sporting events, we were recently voted one of the top ten global cities for sport - making us the perfect place to host the championship. This is an exciting time for Breaking with the sport making its Olympic debut in 2024. These championships offer us a valuable opportunity to connect with a new audience and showcase a new Olympic sport to communities in Manchester."

Shawn Tay, WDSF President said: “We are convinced that DSE, Breaking GB and Manchester City Council will organize a world-class event together with admirable sporting values in a city celebrated for its prolific sports scene - Manchester.”

Peter Maxwell, President of DSE said: “DSE is very proud to have helped and assisted Breaking GB in achieving this marvellous achievement. We were sure Breaking GB would be the perfect partner, amongst many available, to be the body able to deliver first class results. DSE is delighted, through the presentation of the European Breaking Championships, that we were correct and our cooperation will continue to even greater success”

Join the Breaking GB social media channels below for more information on the event and upcoming ticket announcements.

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Notes to editors

Breaking GB

A non-profit organisation created in 2021 to facilitate the selection and pathway for Britain’s best breakers on the road to Paris 2024 and beyond and to develop an infrastructure for the future of breaking as a culture, competitive artform and sport in Britain. Breaking GB has an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding with DanceSport England, the National Member Body of the WDSF (International Federation). The MOU outlines the partnership between DanceSport England and Breaking GB to act as the representative body that will deliver the Olympic pathway for breaking within the UK.

UK Sport 

UK Sport is the UK’s trusted high-performance experts, powering our greatest athletes, teams, sports and events to achieve positive success. Established in 1997, UK Sport has transformed the high-performance sporting system in the UK – through strategic leadership and investment of National Lottery and Government funds – winning more Olympic and Paralympic medals than ever before and is recognised as one of the top nations in the world for event hosting capabilities. UK Sport’s purpose is to lead high-performance sport to enable extraordinary moments that enrich lives and aims to work collaboratively with partners to deliver the greatest decade of extraordinary moments; reaching, inspiring and uniting the nation. More @ www.uksport.gov.uk 

Manchester

Known as a global sporting hub, and one of the top ten cities in the world globally for sport according to the BCW Top 50 Global Sport Cities for 2022, Manchester has a rich sporting heritage with a reputation for attracting national and international events. The city-region boasts a sporting infrastructure second to none and a commitment to world-class event delivery. 

Manchester is home to two of the world’s iconic names in football, Manchester United and Manchester City, as well as several national governing bodies of sport and national training squads. The hugely successful legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games has provided the city with an extensive range of sporting facilities which has been enhanced in recent years, making Manchester the UK’s sporting capital. 

Manchester recently hosted 7 matches during UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 across the city region and has a packed sporting calendar over the coming year including the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Finals in the Rugby League World Cup this autumn, and the IPC World Para Swimming Championships in the summer of 2023.

World DanceSport Federation

The World DanceSport Federation - WDSF is the world governing body for DanceSport. It was founded 1957 under the name International Council of Amateur Dancers in Wiesbaden, Germany, and is now a non-governmental international organisation constituted under Swiss law. It has its Headquarters at Maison du Sport International in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The DanceSport discipline Breaking, governed by the World DanceSport Federation, was officially added to program of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as a medal sport following a decision of the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board in the session that took place in December 2020. Thus, we officially confirm that Breaking is an Olympic Sport.

Breaking made its first appearance at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and it has also been included into the programme of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026. 

The disciplines under the WDSF umbrella are listed in our WDSF Competition Rules available on our website (www.wdsf.org). These include, but not limited to, Standard and Latin-American dances (including 10-Dance, Formations, Team Matches, Teacher-Student competitions, ShowDance and Smooth Dance), Rock’n’Roll and Boogie-Woogie, Urban Dances (including Hip-Hop and Breaking), Performing, Stage and Theatre Dances, Disco Dance, Caribbean Dances, Artistic Group DanceSport, and Folkloric Dances.

DanceSport England

DanceSport England (DSE) is the National Member Body for England within the World Dance Sport Federation (WDSF). After much work we are confident that we will shortly become GB Dancesport which will be the single governing body for DanceSport in Great Britain. In part this is to enable Breaking athletes the opportunity to achieve elite athlete status by the British Olympic Association and funding by UK Sport as a recognised Olympic medal sports association.

DSE is proud to have acted as the enabler for Breaking in Great Britain to achieve WDSF recognition and the possibility for Olympic medals.