2019 European Games

The 2019 European Games is scheduled to be the second edition of the European Games, a multi-sport event for European athletes, and is proposed to be held in June 2019 in Russia. The choice of host city, between Sochi and Kazan has not yet been made, and the hosting agreement is provisional on the basis of Russia addressing concerns raised by an independent WADA investigation into doping in Russian athletics.

Initially, it was proposed to be held in the Netherlands. On 10 June 2015, the Netherlands pulled out of hosting this 2019 Games, citing high cost and insufficient support for the event.

Host city selections

First selection

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.

• The Netherlands

In November 2014, EOC President Patrick 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

Following the withdrawal of the Netherlands as host, several candidate cities have been reported to have shown interest to host the 2019 European Games. The European Olympic Committees president, Patrick 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.

The following countries/cities were reported by diverse sources to be interested in hosting the 2019 European Games:

• Russia – Kazan or Sochi

One significant multi-sport event have been held in Kazan, the 2013 Summer Universiade. Moreover, other notable events like the 2014 European Badminton Championships, the 2014 World Fencing Championships, the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the 2017 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships will take place in the Tatar capital. Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics and along with Kazan, will be one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In November 2015, Russia was provisionally awarded the 2019 Games, in an as yet undecided city, dependent on Russia addressing doping concerns raised in an independent WADA investigation. Sochi would need to build many facilities to hold the games, although some indoor arenas from the 2014 Winter Olympics could conceivably be repurposed.

• Belarus – Minsk

It is reported that the Belarusian capital has shown interest to host the games.

• United Kingdom – Glasgow

The Scottish city of Glasgow was in early contact with the European Olympic Committee about staging the Games in 2019, but a spokesman for Glasgow City Council has stated that Glasgow is not a candidate city for 2019. He also added that Glasgow may bid for the event in the future. Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and had bid for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics but lost out to Buenos Aires. In April 2015, Glasgow was announced as the co-host (with some satellite venues in Scotland and two in Berlin) of the 2018 European Sports Championships, a separate and potentially rival multi-sports event combining the separate European elite championships of athletics (the sole portion held in Berlin), aquatics, rowing, triathlon and cycling and organised by the European confederations of those sports, and not by the European Olympic Committees.

• Turkey – Istanbul

The European Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos said that "Istanbul is a very beautiful city, they couldn't get the Summer Olympics but hosting the second edition of the European Games would help their future Olympic bids.

Withdrew bids

• Poland

The Polish Olympic Committee has written to a number of cities to ascertain their interest in bidding to host the 2019 Games. The city of Poznań is believed to be their choice, but Warsaw, Katowice, Kraków, Wrocław and Łódź have also been asked. Poznań has tried to win the right to host a several big events, such as the 2010 and 2014 Youth Olympics and the 2009 and 2011 Summer Universiades, but have failed at every occasion.