Organisers confident Commonwealth Games can shine after World Cup – SABC News

The 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers believe the multi-sport event continues to be relevant and one that elite athletes look forward to on the global sporting calendar. Elite international and local athletes have in the past opted not to compete in the multi-sport event.

This might have resulted in diminished popularity and decreased revenue which forced organisers to scale back into a reduced 10-sport format from 17. The games will kick-off in just over a month – just four days after the completion of the FIFA World Cup in the Americas.

The Commonwealth Games have been struggling for a place in the spotlight and attention in the recent past, with some of the elite athletes opting not to compete in the games.

However, hosting them just days after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup in the Americas will present an even greater challenge. But the organisers are confident the event will be a massive success.

The Commonwealth Games Chief Executive Officer, Phil Batty, believes with the Scotland football national team currently competing in the World Cup for the first time after 28 years, they can use that as a leverage to market the games.

“I don’t think there is nothing that can stop the two from working in harmony, and I think what the world cup has done is to shine a spotlight on Scotland and what we have heard in the past few weeks has been about the identity and the people.”

Glasgow in Scotland will host the games after stepping in for Victoria, the Australian state. It was initially selected to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games but withdrew due to financial and logistical challenges faced by the state government.

Rugby Sevens, hockey, wrestling, Badminton and triathlon are among the sports excluded from its programme in 2026. Commonwealth Sport CEO, Katie Sadler, says this was done to reduce the costs of organizing the Games by 60%.

“It is a hard decision that is made, Glasgow in particular, has unique circumstances and they did not bid for this games but put up a hand and in making the decision we talked to various international sports federations and the programme will have 10 sports but we will be going back to 17 in 2030,” says Commonwealth Sport CEO Katie Sadleir.

The quadrennial games will commence on 23 July until 2 August.