ETTU European U13 Championships: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Nevşehir)

Nevşehir sits on a high plateau in central Anatolia. A hilltop castle looks down on the town, and the soft volcanic valleys of Cappadocia start just beyond its eastern edge. From November 11–15, 2026, this provincial capital hosts the ETTU European U13 Championships. That means five days of the continent’s best under-13 table tennis players in one hall.

The players are young. The table tennis is not gentle. Expect fast serves, heavy spin and parents watching from the stands with their nerves on show.

Five days, one age group

The championships run from November 11 to November 15, 2026. The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body for the sport in Europe and organises the event. It publishes the venue, the daily schedule and the ticket arrangements on its official site.

This is a youth event, so the people in the stands are mostly not casual tourists. You sit among:

• coaches and national federation staff
• families who have travelled with the players
• local table tennis clubs and schoolchildren from the region

At this age many players are already training full-time inside national programmes. A European title at under-13 is often the first international result in a career that goes much further.

Watching from the barrier: hall etiquette

Table tennis halls follow a rhythm that newcomers often get wrong. Low barriers mark out each court, and an umpire’s table sits at the side of every one. During a rally the hall goes quiet at that table, even while noise carries from the courts around it.

Spectators who know the sport stick to a few habits:

• They walk along the aisles between points and never during a rally.
• They clap when a point ends, not while the ball is in play.
• They keep their flash off, because a sudden light can cost a player the point.
• They keep phone calls outside the hall.

Coaching is limited to set moments in the match. So when a coach leans in at the barrier, you know it’s an allowed break.

Turkish crowds are warm and loud for home players. “Hadi!” (“Come on!”) is the chant you’ll hear most. Applauding good rallies from either side is normal, and young players remember it.

Reaching the plateau

Nevşehir has its own airport, Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport (NAV), about 30 km north of town near Gülşehir. Most of its flights come via Istanbul. The other common gateway is Kayseri Erkilet Airport (ASR), roughly 75 km to the east, which has more domestic connections.

Long-distance buses arrive at Nevşehir’s otogar (bus station) from Ankara, Istanbul and Konya. Dolmuş minibuses leave town for Göreme, Uçhisar, Ürgüp and Avanos. Teams and families without a car usually rely on airport shuttles and taxis.

Town beds or cave hotels

Visitors to the championships split into two groups. Teams and officials usually stay in Nevşehir itself, close to the competition. The town is a working provincial centre with a university, ordinary shops and business hotels. Most guests don’t come for its looks.

Families with free days often stay in the Cappadocia villages instead:

• Uçhisar, about 7 km east, under its towering rock castle
• Göreme, about 10 km east, the centre for balloon flights and the Göreme Open-Air Museum
• Ürgüp, about 20 km east, with a wine-making tradition and more restaurants

Many of these hotels are carved into the soft tuff rock. Rooms stay cool in summer and need heating in November.

Balloons at dawn, rallies by mid-morning

This is the scheduling quirk that sets Nevşehir apart from most championship cities. Cappadocia’s hot-air balloons launch around sunrise over the valleys near Göreme. The flights are over before a typical competition day gets going.

Balloons still fly in November, but the season is less reliable. Wind and low cloud cancel flights more often in late autumn. Families who want to fly usually leave room for a second morning in case the first is grounded.

Even from the ground the sight is worth getting up for. Dozens of balloons rise over the fairy chimneys, and the hilltops above Göreme and Uçhisar fill with people watching. Players’ families often fit this in before or after the days their child competes.

Below and above Nevşehir

The rest days and early-elimination days leave time to explore. Within easy reach of the town:

• Kaymaklı Underground City, about 20 km south, a multi-level settlement cut into the rock
• Derinkuyu Underground City, about 30 km south, deeper still, with narrow passages and rolling stone doors
• Nevşehir Castle, on the hill above town, with views across the plateau
• Kurşunlu Mosque complex, built in the 18th century by Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha
• Avanos, on the Kızılırmak river, known for red-clay pottery workshops

Damat İbrahim Pasha was born in the village of Muşkara. He rebuilt it as a planned town and named it Nevşehir, Persian-Turkish for “new city”. The mosque, a madrasa and a hamam survive from that project.

November on the Anatolian plateau

Nevşehir stands at well over 1,000 metres. In mid-November the days are crisp and short and the nights often drop close to freezing. Spectators who sit in the hall all day dress in layers and bring something warm for the trip back after the evening session.

Food here is filling and suited to the cold. Testi kebabı is the regional dish: meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot, which is cracked open at your table. Nevşehir province is also one of Turkey’s main potato-growing areas, and you’ll find it on menus all over town.

Cards are widely accepted in hotels and restaurants. Cash in Turkish lira is handier for dolmuş fares, small bakeries and tea. In restaurants, people usually round up the bill or leave a modest tip for the server.