Football was an optional sport at the 1979 edition and two of the optional sports at the 1985 edition of the Universiade. Between 1987 and 2019, it was a recognized mandatory sport. The women's football competition began in the 1993 edition as an optional event. Due to the creation of the FISU University Football World Cup in 2019, the sport is no longer part of the Summer World University Games program, as of that year. With this change, the number of mandatory sports was kept at 15, since the place was occupied by badminton, which, after five editions as an optional sport, became compulsory.
Summary (1979-2021) 18 editions for men + 11 editions for women
Games Year Teams (M+W) Ref 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1979 26+0 11 12 13 1985 12+0 14 1987 16+0 15 16 1991 16+0 17 1993 16+7 18 1995 16+0 19 1997 16+0 20 1999 16+0 21 2001 16+12 22 2003 16+12 23 2005 16+12 24 2007 16+16 25 2009 16+16 26 2011 16+12 27 2013 16+12 28 2015 16+15 29 2017 16+13 30 2019 12+12 31 32 33 34
Men's tournaments
Results YearHostFinalThird placeGold medalScoreSilver medalBronze medalScoreFourth place1979 details Mexico 5–34–11985 details Kobe1–04–21987 details Zagreb5–03–01991 details Sheffield0–0 aet (5–4) pen2–11993 details Buffalo 2–1 2–11995 details Fukuoka2–03–11997 details Palermo1–02–11999 details Palma de Mallorca2–1 aet2–2 aet (5–4) pen2001 details Beijing1–00–0 aet (5–4) pen2003 details Daegu3–23–12005 details İzmir3–3 aet (3–2) pen1–1 aet (4–3) pen2007 details Bangkok1–01–1 aet (5–3) pen2009 details Belgrade3–21–02011 details Shenzhen2–02–02013 details Kazan3–2 aet3–02015 details Gwangju3–00–0 aet (7–6) pen2017 details Taipei1–00–0 (5–3) pen2019 details Naples4–12–2 (4–3) pen
Teams reaching the top four TeamGoldSilverBronzeFourth place7 (1995*, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2017, 2019)3 (2009, 2013, 2015)1 (1985*)2 (1997*, 2015)5 (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)1 (2019)2 (2007, 2009)1 (2001)2 (1995, 1997)1 (1991)5 (1987, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2015*)1 (2001)1 (2013)1 (2017)1 (1987)1 (1995)3 (2011, 2013*, 2019)1 (1993)1 (2003)1 (1999)1 (1979*)1 (2017)1 (1985)1 (1987)1 (1999*)2 (2011, 2013)1 (1991*)2 (1993, 2009)2 (1979, 1985)2 (1991, 2017)1 (2019)2 (1999, 2011)2 (2005, 2015)1 (1991)1 (1979)1 (1985)2 (1987, 2001*)1 (2005)1 (2003)1 (1979)1 (1993)1 (1997)1 (2007*)1 (2007)
* = Host
Comprehensive team results by tournament Nation 1979 1985 1987 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 6th 10th 14th 11th 12th 8th 12th 12th 15th 8th 15th 16th 12th 8th 3rd 6th 4th 10th 9th 3rd 14th 4th 9th 2nd 11th 16th 16th 15th 4th 12th 9th 7th 13th 10th 3rd 4th 5th 4th 7th 15th 7th 12th 10th 16th 16th 10th () 19th 20th 1st 5th 10th 4th 5th 3rd 6th 11th 5th 11th 18th 9th 11th 13th 10th 7th 1st 8th 2nd 7th 9th 11th 13th 3rd 15th 15th 13th 8th 10th 3rd 4th 15th 12th 9th 7th 8th 13th 8th 4th 2nd 2nd 22nd 16th 6th 13th 5th 11th 5th 11th 14th 17th 12th 1st 2nd 13th 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 8th 11th 1st 5th 3rd 7th 4th 8th 8th 5th 1st 9th 13th 1st 1st 1st 5th 3rd 1st 3rd 3rd 1st 1st 14th 14th 12th 15th 23rd 8th 12th 12th 8th 15th 14th 1st 6th 15th 7th 14th 14th 5th 6th 16th 9th 11th 3rd 9th 12th 16th 8th 8th 4th 3rd 9th 13th 16th 4th 5th 2nd 8th 7th 15th 7th 9th 10th 14th 14th 16th 16th 1st 3rd 6th 15th 14th 13th 13th 6th 12th 12th 13th 12th 13th 14th 5th 5th 13th 8th3rd 10th () 1st 9th 6th 3rd 7th 4th 4th 9th 6th 4th 16th () 9th 8th 7th 11th 14th 7th 15th 12th 16th 6th 12th 11th 5th 5th 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd 6th 3rd 9th 14th 6th 5th 2nd 11th 5th 10th 1st 24th 15th 6th 10th 3rd 10th 13th 9th 13th 4th 4th 11th 2nd 11th 1st 1st 14th 6th 12th 7th 6th 15th 7th 6th 5th 11th 9th 3rd 15th 2nd 2nd 7th 4th 10th 14th 11th 10th 9th 10th 8th 7th 11th 6th 10th 7th 4th 10th 21st —
Women's tournaments
Results YearHostFinalThird placeGold medalScoreSilver medalBronze medalScoreFourth place1993 details Buffalo2–12–02001 details Beijing2–1 aet4–32003 details Daegu3–0 2–02005 details İzmir2–1 2–02007 details Bangkok1–0 2–12009 details Belgrade4–1 4–12011 details Shenzhen2–1 aet4–12013 details Kazan6–22–12015 details Gwangju2–05–02017 details Taipei1–0 5–02019 details Naples2–1 2–2(4–2)
Teams reaching the top four TeamGoldSilverBronzeFourth place3 (2001, 2005, 2017)3 (2007, 2011, 2013)3 (2003, 2007, 2019)2 (1993, 2011*)1 (2005)1 (2003)1 (2009)1 (2001)1 (2013)1 (2009)1 (2015)4 (2001, 2005, 2009, 2011)5 (2003, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2019)2 (2005, 2015)2 (2007, 2015)3 (2003, 2017, 2019)1 (1993*)1 (2001)1 (2013)2 (1993, 2003)1 (2013, 2017)2 (2007, 2019)1 (2015)
* = Host
Comprehensive team results by tournament Nation 1993 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 13th 7th 1st 1st 3rd 6th 3rd 3rd 6th 1st 11th 5th 10th 10th 5th 10th 7th 5th 10th 4th 8th 8th1st 6th 3rd 2nd 8th 8th 1st 11th 5th 6th 4th 4th 8th 14th 10th 8th 11th 11th 15th 12th 11th 8th 12th 12th 12th 9th 7th 4th 6th 4th 5th 4th 4th 1st 9th 13th 10th 7th 3rd 9th 1st 9th 13th 7th 6th 7th 2nd 3rd 9th 2nd 2nd 5th 3rd 2nd 2nd 11th 8th 8th 2nd 9th 7th 10th 2nd 12th 9th 16th 5th 1st 1st 1st 8th 11th 10th 7th 6th 4th 14th 6th 13th 10th 4th3rd 2nd 5th 6th 9th 2nd 3rd 3rd 11th 12th 11th 10th 12th 15th 11th 4th 14th 4th 12th 3rd 5th 6th 1st 7th 7th 7th 6th 5th 15th 12th 2nd 12th 5th 9th Number of teams 7 12 12 12 16 12 12 12 15 1312 —
Combined medal table
Men
Women
Total
See also FIFA World Cup FIFA Women's World Cup Football at the Summer Olympics Football at the Youth Olympic Games
Notes
References RSSSF archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120124031040/http://sports123.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110714072225/http://sports123.com/uni/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20110609172229/http://sports123.com/foo/mun.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090723035448/http://sports123.com/foo/wun.html