On the 11th of April 1923 I Tartu Student Unions of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a program of cooperation. One of the parts of this program foresaw that student sports games be held on a regular basis. In autumn of 1923 in Tartu the first Baltic Students Olympics were held. The students competed in field athletics, tennis and football. Later those Games were named SELL Games by the first letter of countries.

Winter Games were started in 1929. Later, beginning with the year 1937 the SELL chess matches were held there. The last pre-war SELL Games were held on the 2-3 of March 1940 in Otepe (Estonia). For over 50 years the Games were disrupted because of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries.

On the 21st of April of 1997 representatives of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed a declaration about the revival of the SELL Games. It was decided the 15th SELL Games to be held in Tartu (Estonia). Students from all countries throughout the world were invited to participate in the Games. Over 800 athletes from 15 countries representing 52 universities took part in these Games.

SELL Games is the biggest University Sport Games in Baltic countries and Finland which takes place every year. The games are rotating every year in one of these countries.

SELL Summer Games        SELL Winter Games                     

I 1923 TARTU                      I 1929 RIGA                                   

II 1924 RIGA                        II 1931 HELSINKI               

III 1926 HELSINKI               III 1933 KAUNAS (cancelled)       

IV 1929 KAUNAS                IV 1935 SIGULDA      

V 1930 TALINN                    V 1938 ZARASAI      

VI 1931 RIGA                       VI 1940 OTEPE         

VII 1932 HELSINKI              

VIII 1933 KAUNAS               

IX 1934 TARTU                    

X 1935 RIGA             

XI 1936 HELSINKI               

XII 1937 KAUNAS                

XIII 1938 TARTU                  

XIV 1939 RIGA (cancelled)               

1940 - 1997 were not held                   

XV 1998 TARTU

XVI 1999 KAUNAS

XVII 2000 JELGAVA

XVIII 2002 TARTU

XIX 2003 KAUNAS

XX 2004 TAMPERE

XXI 2005 RIGA

XXII 2006 TARTU

XXIII 2007 KAUNAS

XXIV 2008 ESPOO

XXV 2009 JELGAVA

XXVI 2010 TARTU

XXVII 2011 KAUNAS

XXVIII 2012 ESPOO

XXIX 2013 RIGA

XXX 2014 TARTU

XXXI 2015 KAUNAS

XXXII 2016 TAMPERE

XXXIII 2017 RIGA

XXXIV 2018 TARTU