European Summit 2026

Lisbon, Portugal, was home to the first-ever The European Summit on June 20–21, 2026. Varsity first announced the event in February 2025, introducing Europe to its own Summit-branded championship. While Varsity had hosted bid-qualifying events throughout Europe for years, European youth teams previously had no Europe-based equivalent to The Summit. The inaugural European Summit changed that by bringing a premier end-of-season championship closer to home.

Teams earned bids throughout the 2025–26 Varsity Europe season, and those teams remained eligible to compete at The Summit in the United States if they preferred. The championship featured youth, junior, open, adaptive abilities, and multiple IASF divisions, with teams representing sixteen European countries. The two-day event consisted of preliminaries and finals.

England led all nations with twelve gold titles across six different programs. Gosport, Hampshire-based Jessie Leigh Dance & Cheer Academy (JLDC) earned four of England's twelve first-place titles, including the two highest scores of the weekend: 99.2 and 98.9967.

Based on cheerUPDATES' review of Varsity Summit bid records and historical Summit participation lists, at least 26 teams competing at the inaugural European Summit had previously earned Summit bids but had never competed at The Summit in Orlando, Florida. The introduction of The European Summit expanded access to a Summit championship for youth programs across Europe.

The European Summit will return to Lisbon, Portugal, in 2027, with teams already beginning to earn bids throughout the upcoming season. Eligible European teams will once again have the option to compete either in Portugal or at The Summit in Orlando.

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