South East Europe is truly a region where Jiu-Jitsu is growing very fast. There are so many countries tightly connected and it is very easy to travel from country to country. It’s always a bit tricky to say which countries are geographically included in this region. Let’s just say that we will include all countries between Hungary and Turkey as those are the countries which produce teams that actually come to these competitions.
We will also feature next time a Top 5 Competitions in Central Eastern Europe which will include regional leaders Poland.
For a full list of competitions by the date, you can check out our competition calendar. Here are the top competitionranked by number of particpants, number of editions etc…
1. Hungarian Open.
With 350 competitors in the last edition (2012), the Hungarian Open is the biggest competition in South East Europe (Even though Hungary is in in Central/Eastern Europe). The Hungarian Open started in 2005 in Budapest and has been growing steadily every year. It is organized by Max Carvalho and Gracie Barra Hungary. The event has changed venues many times. There are 4 mats and lots of black belt referees from other Gracie Barra schools in Europe.
Date of first edition: 14 of october 2005
Location: 1139 BUDAPEST, FÁY U. 58. Hungary
Month of the competition: November
Main Prizes: 2 Airplane ticket to Lisboa Europeans(Blue and Purple belt Absolute Division)
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2012: 350 competitors.
High-level athletes competing: Bence Gyorgy, Csampar Janos, Szekeres Akos, Horvath Imre, Tabori Kristóf, Szücs Kristóf, Camil Maldoveanu etc..
Belt range: White ,Blue,Purple,Brown and Black belt
Kids Category: yes
Masters and Seniors :No Master Seniors but next year for sure
Website and contact: http://www.hungarianbjjopen.com and +3630 2369169
2. Croatian Open
‘The Croatian Open Jiu Jitsu Championship’ is one of the main Jiu Jitsu tournament in the region with well over 200-250 competitors every year. Taking place in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, ”Croatian Open Jiu Jitsu Championship” guarantees a high level of competition in all belt and weight categories. The organizors are Subos/ Alliance black Dragon.
Date of first edition: 2007
Location: Martinovka gym, Miramarska bb, Zagreb, Croatia
Month of the competition: Last weekend of April
Main Prizes: Gis for winners
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2013: 250 competitors.
High-level athletes competing: Matko Kvesic, Vedran Ikic, Zvonimir Ucovic, Damir Salina, Goran Reljic etc..
Belt range: White ,Blue,Purple,Brown and Black belt
Kids Category: yes
Masters and Seniors : No
Website and contact: http://www.crojj.org/
3. Serbian Open
The Serbian BJJ Open had it’s first few editions from back in 2002. After a few years without events it came back with a bang in 2010 and has been growing ever since. The last edition had 260 registered competitors. It is organized by Zerjal Team Serbia and held in the first class gym SC Sumice were big international judo tournaments are held.
Date of first edition: 2002
Location: SC Sumice, Belgrade, Serbia.
Month of the competition: October.
Main Prizes: None.
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2013: 260 competitors.
High-level athletes competing: Uros Culic, Aleksandar Milicevic, Aleksandar Rajacic, Guillaume Huni, Asa Nadarevic, Luka Radulovic etc..
Belt range: White ,Blue,Purple,Brown and Black belt
Kids Category: No
Masters and Seniors : No
Website and contact: www.bjjserbia.rs
4. BJJ East Europe Open
This year was the first edition but it was very succesfull and brought some new concepts to regional competitions: hostesses, live streaming, venue in a shopping mall. The organizer is Bojan Mirkovic from Werdum Team Croatia. The next edition in feb. 2014 promises to be even better with black belt superfights and more surprises.
Date of first edition: 2013
Location: West Gate shopping center, Zagreb, Croatia.
Month of the competition: Mid February.
Main Prizes: Gis.
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2013: 230 competitors.
High-level athletes competing: Damir Salina, Edson Rodrigues, Radoslaw Senger, Guillaume Huni, Mensur Pasic, Mateja Valjarevic.
Belt range: White ,Blue,Purple,Brown and Black belt
Kids Category: Yes.
Masters and Seniors : No
Website and contact: http://www.hbjjs.hr/EEOC/
5. Serbian Cup
The Serbian Cup had its first edition this year and was very successful. The team in charge is Lutador-Alliance. It is held in the same venue as the Serbian Open and is held in March in Belgrade.
Date of first edition: 2013
Location: SC Sumice, Belgrade, Serbia
Month of the competition: March.
Main Prizes: Gis.
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2013: 220 competitors.
High-level athletes competing: Zvonimir Ucovic, Luka Radulovic, Asa Nadarevic, Aleksandar Milicevic.
Belt range: White ,Blue,Purple,Brown and Black belt
Kids Category: No
Masters and Seniors : No
Website and contact: https://www.facebook.com/lutadorbjj.serbia
Those were the biggest competitions. Here are the up and coming mid level competitions:
Bulgarian Open
Date of first edition: October 1, 2011
Location: National Sports Academy (NSA), Sofia, BULGARIA
Month of the competition: October
Main Prizes: 2000 USD prize fund
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2012/13: 150
High-level athletes competing: Radoslav Kovachev (3rd place in WPJJC in Abu Dhabi), Camil Moldoveanu (Multiple BJJ champion in competitions around the world and Europe), Todor Zhelyazkov (MMA fighter, multiple BJJ and ADCC champion in Bulgaria), Dimitrios Tsitos (black belt, Greece)
Belt range: white to black, mostly white and blue
Kids Category: the divisions are under 18 and above 18
Masters and Seniors: no
Website and contact: http://www.realpain-mma.com
Romanian BJJ Cup
Date of first edition: 2006
Location: Apollo Arena, Bucharest, Bd-ul Energeticienilor, Nr. 5, Bucharest, Romania
Month of the competition: December
Main Prizes:
– 100 euro: First place Open Begginers -76 kg
– 100 euro: First place Open Begginers +76 kg
– 100 euro: First place Open Advanced -76
– 100 euro: First place Open Advanced +76
– Raffle: 50 Tatami wallets, 25 Tatami t-shirts
– Cups, medals and diplomas
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2012/13: aprox 100-120.
High-level athletes competing: European and world champions Remus Corbei, Camil Moldoveanu and European champion Stefan Serafim, Florin Cernat, Daniel Cernat, Marius Varlan (master) and some international judo players (master).
Belt range: (IBJJF rules white belt division and blue/purple division)
Kids Category: yes
Masters and Seniors: yes
Website and contact: Registration and more info: contact@absoluto.ro or +040723.522.445
http://absoluto.ro/
Acropolis Open
Date of first edition: ?
Location: Olympic Wrestling Stadium in Ano Liossia (where in 2004 olympics Judo/wrestling were held) Near Athens, Greece.
Month of the competition: 3rd week of December
Main Prizes: None but will be in 2013
Number of competitors during the last edition in 2012/13: 170
High-level athletes competing: ?
Belt range: white to black
Kids Category: Yes
Masters and Seniors: No
Website and contact: http://www.fightregister.com/
Honorable mention: AD World Pro Trials Bucharest, Split Open, 4Rivers Open, Nis Open, Slovenian Open, Bosna Open.
