The cities of Kazan, Russia, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Shenzhen, China, Murcia, Spain, and Poznań, Poland were in contention for the Games. On 16 January 2007, FISU announced at the conference prior to the 2007 Winter Universiade, that the host would be Shenzhen. With five candidates, it was the most competitive race to host a Universiade. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada was also posed to make a serious bid, but withdrew.