The 2026 edition of the Commonwealth Games finally seems to have found a host city, with Glasgow, Scotland set to organise the multi-sport event.
The Scottish government, on Tuesday, confirmed that it would back the city’s bid of hosting a trimmed version of the Commonwealth Games, with reports suggesting 10-13 sports might feature as opposed to the 19 that were held at the 2022 edition in Birmingham.
Victoria state in Australia was originally set to host the 2026 edition, but withdrew last year citing rising costs. Since then, the Commonwealth Games Federation has been looking for a replacement.
There had been interest from Singapore and Malaysia, but both eventually decided against it.
Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia, had also shown some interest, but the hosts of the 2018 edition also declined eventually.
Should Glasgow’s bid be successful, this will be the fourth time Scotland will host the multi-sports event, with Edinburgh holding the 1970 and 1986 editions, while Glasgow hosted the event in 2014.
The quadrennial event, which involves former British colonies, has steadily been losing relevance especially after continental events like the Asian Games have started to become more prominent in respective nations.
This is the second consecutive time when an originally decided host has stepped down after initially winning the bid.
In 2015, Durban, South Africa had won the bid to host the 2022 edition but pulled out 17 months later due to financial troubles. Birmingham then stepped in to host the event.
The Commonwealth Games was first organized in 1911, and since 1930 has been held every four years – the 1942 and 1946 editions were cancelled due to the Second World War.
India had hosted the 2010 edition of the Games, becoming only the ninth different host nation of the event.
