Host city Minsk, Belarus Closing ceremony 30 June | Opening ceremony 14 June Main venue Dinamo Stadium (Minsk) | |
The 2019 European Games (Belarusian: Еўрапейскія гульні 2019) is scheduled to be the second edition of the European Games, a multi-sport event for European athletes. It will be held in June 2019 in Minsk, Belarus, having previously been awarded first to the Netherlands and then to Russia. The Netherlands withdrew citing costs and lack of support, while the next hosting agreement with Russia was provisional on the basis of it addressing concerns raised by an independent WADA investigation into doping in Russia. During the Olympic Games in 2016, the IOC made clear they would not support a European Games in Russia in the present circumstances. Finally on 21 October 2016 it was announced, that Minsk, Belarus would be the host city for the 2019 Games.
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First selection (Netherlands)
The European Olympic Committees (EOC) has stated that there will not be any "complex bidding process" for the 2019 Games. In contrast to the Olympic bidding phase, the EOC is in private dialogue with a several potential host cities to minimize unnecessary costs and reduce the length of the process.
In November 2014, EOC President Pat Hickey stated that EOC was in negotiations with six potential host cities. The bidding cities remained unknown until 16 May 2015 when the EOC nominated the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) to host the 2019 European Games.
The Netherlands were planning a nationwide concept for the Games, with competitions spread over the country. There were ongoing negotiations with nine potential host cities, Amsterdam, Almere, The Hague, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Apeldoorn, Arnhem and Assen. The NOC*NSF had outlined a maximum budget of €125m. No new facilities will be built to maintain the vision of a low-cost Games. Moreover, there will not be any single athletes village. In contrast, the athletes will stay in accommodations in the respective host city.
If the European Athletics Association were willing to offer a bigger athletics programme than in Baku 2015, the competition was planned to be held at the newly renovated Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Stadium was also to stage the opening and closing ceremonies, which should have been “modest and impactful" to reduce high costs. The 2019 Games were to include urban sports like skateboarding and roller sports, which were earmarked for Rotterdam. The Dutch organisers envisaged 12 to 15 sports, but the number could have possibly increased to 20.
However, on 10 June 2015, just before the inaugural European Games in Azerbaijan, the Netherlands pulled out of hosting the next edition, arguing that there was insufficient support for funding the event, and calling the €57.5 million price tag too high for local, provincial and national authorities. They also questioned whether there would be enough top athletes at the games because sports including swimming and athletics already have European Championships that year.
Second selection (Russia)
Following the withdrawal of the Netherlands as host, several candidate cities were reported to have shown interest to host the 2019 European Games. The European Olympic Committees president, Pat Hickey, said that they had gone back to the former candidate cities, and following the success of the 2015 European Games, a further two candidates had also submitted their interests to host the 2019 edition.
In November 2015, Russia was provisionally awarded the 2019 Games, dependent on Russia addressing doping concerns raised in an independent WADA investigation. Kazan, host of the 2013 Summer Universiade, and Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, were named as potential host cities.
In the buildup to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, as a result of the ongoing Russian state-sponsored doping scandal, the IOC withdrew support for major sporting events in Russia, explicitly including the European Games in 2019. The EOC stated that they would contact other cities to seek a (third) host.
Third selection (Belarus)
It was reported that the Belarusian capital showed early interest to host the games. In October 2016, the Belarus Olympic Committee and the European Olympic Committees confirmed that the second edition of the European Games in 2019 would now be awarded to Minsk.
Sports
A final sporting programme has not yet been decided for the Minsk 2019 Games. On 22 December 2016 European Athletics announced that agreement had been reached with the EOC for the inclusion of an athletics event in the Games, with an 'innovative new format'It is also confirmed taekwondo will be represented.