The Commonwealth Games were last hosted in Birmingham, UK, in 2022. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/Stewart Marsden
The Commonwealth Games are set to take place in 2026, that is if a host country is willing to take them on.
Plans were going swimmingly at first, with the Australian state of
Victoria initially announced as host in 2022 following months of
discussion with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). In the
following year, however, they cancelled plans to host the games.
Since then, the Games haven’t had the best of luck:
India’s state of Ahmedabad announced plans to bid
for the Games, alongside plans to host the 2036 Summer Olympics and
Paralympics – seemingly a good move as the country had previously hosted
the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. However, India later turned down
the bid for the 2026 Games.
The Olympic Council of Malaysia recently stated that Malaysia was offered the opportunity to host the Games, but on 22 March announced that it was declining the invitation.
In a statement, the Ministry of Youth and Sports said that they had
engaged in discussions with the CGF but were unable to come to a
satisfactory conclusion.
“The results of this meeting were presented in the Council of
Ministers’ Meeting… and stated that CGF’s offer amounting to RM603
million (US$127 muillion) is not expected to be able to cover the entire
cost of organising a large-scale sports event,” they said. “In
addition, the economic impact cannot be identified in this short period
of time.”
More recently, Singapore also turned down the offer
to host the Games. In a statement, Commonwealth Games Singapore (CGS)
and Sport Singapore (SportSG) said they had “studied the feasibility of
hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games and have decided not to make any bid
to host the Games.”
What now for the Games?
Currently, the CGF is
still looking for a place to host its beleaguered Games, amid fears that
failure to secure a host country may result in the Games being
postponed to 2027 or even cancellation, a situation that hasn't occurred
since World War II.
However, the CGF has shared that it is currently in talks with
several Commonwealth Games Associations, and is considering multiple
proposals to host the Games. No names have been revealed yet, though
time will certainly tell.