Higher education is aimed at personal development and professional development of students. Student sports play an important role in the implementation of this target orientation. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the possibility of introducing new organizational forms of student sports for the development of the professional potential of university students. The study was conducted based on the analysis of the data of the statistical reports of VPO-1 and 1-FC for the period from 2016 to 2022, as well as tools for the development and organizational forms of student sports. The results of the study showed that despite the measures taken at the state and regional levels, the forms of organization and tools for the development of student sports that are being implemented did not lead to the formation of a persistent need for students to engage in systematic physical culture and sports, which does not allow us to talk about the effectiveness of the development of professional potential among university students. As a means of developing the professional potential of students, it is proposed to consider the possibilities of introducing new organizational forms of student sports - the center for the development of student sports.