The International World Games Association (IWGA) has opened the bidding process for The 12th World Games, scheduled for 2025. In the bidding document presentation, structured in 18 main chapters, the IWGA has published all the necessary information for candidate host cities. The guideline is now available on the IWGA website: www.theworldgames.org.
The bidding document with its 119 pages includes the timetable of the bidding process with the different deadlines, of which the first one will be the bids by potential host cities, due on 31st July this year. The bidding and awarding process will be completed in less than a year: the host contract will be officially signed at the IWGA Annual General Meeting in spring 2019. Potential bidders have the advantage that the host of this 11-day international multi-sports event is not required to build new sports facilities for the various sports and disciplines of the games.
“The newly released document supports the candidate city’s representatives in getting a good overview of all the facts and the requirements for hosting The World Games, and includes a clear structured questionnaire which will enable the IWGA Evaluation Committee to compare bids in a transparent and fair way,” says José Perurena, President of IWGA. The IWGA has already received some initial expressions of interest from possible host cities.
With Birmingham, Alabama as the host city, the 2021 Games will be staged back in the USA, where The World Games was first held in 1981 in Santa Clara, California. In 2017 Wroclaw, Poland hosted the 10th edition of the multi-sport event. TWG 2017 attracted approximately 250,000 spectators. The competitions could be watched on TV in 115 countries and were broadcast over the Olympic Channel worldwide. The Games in July 2017 were covered by as many as 2,000 hours of TV broadcast.
The World Games takes place every four years in the year following the Olympic Games. The Games showcases 30+ sports, including DanceSport, Squash, Tug of War, Gymnastics, Sport Climbing and Karate. Approximately 5,000 athletes, coaches and officials from more than 110 countries will take part in the official and invitational sports programme of The World Games 2025. The athletes will compete for the gold medals in approximately 200 medal events during the Games.