Birmingham to host the 2026 European Athletics Championships

Birmingham will host the European Athletics Championships in 2026, the first time the event has ever been held in the UK.

European Athletics announced on 11 November that the city had won the right to stage the championships, following a bid by UK Athletics, working with Birmingham City Council and UK Sport. The event will be held at the Alexander Stadium.

A first for the UK

The UK has hosted many major championships in recent years, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the World Athletics and World Para Athletics Championships and the World Athletics Indoor Championships, but never the European Championships.

The win follows a memorable summer of athletics, including a hugely successful Commonwealth Games at the newly renovated Alexander Stadium, where the athletics and para athletics programme was a sell-out, with more than 300,000 tickets sold.

"Honoured and privileged"

Council leader Ian Ward said: "We are honoured and privileged to be asked to be the first-ever UK hosts of the prestigious European Athletics Championships in 2026."

"The Alexander Stadium is beyond all doubt the premier athletics facility in the country and we cannot wait to welcome the elite of European athletics for this event, which will also bring a range of benefits for local communities and our economy beyond the programme of track and field activities."

Jack Buckner, chief executive of UK Athletics, said the governing body had long wanted to stage the event. "Our vision for the Championships is about record breaking ticket sales and an amazing atmosphere for athletes to be inspired inside and outside the stadium," he said.

Sally Munday, chief executive of UK Sport, said the championships would be a fantastic chance to build on the legacy of the Commonwealth Games, and sports minister Stuart Andrew said the city was "perfectly placed" after the record ticket sales this summer.

What it could mean for the city

According to a council report approved in June, when the council agreed to underwrite up to £13.7 million towards the net cost of the championships, the event is expected to bring around £34 million of economic benefit to Birmingham, with £12 million of the budget spent with local businesses.

The championships are expected to attract around 300,000 spectator admissions, create 2,900 volunteering opportunities and generate more than 1,300 hours of live television coverage.

The council says the figure it contributes will fall if bids for funding to UK Sport and the government are successful.

A golden decade

The championships are a key part of the council's plans for a "golden decade" of major events following the Commonwealth Games. The city has already secured the World Blind Games and the World Trampoline Championships for 2023, and a ten-year deal agreed last year means the country's top indoor athletics meetings will be held at the arena every year until 2032.

For athletes, the chance to compete at a European Championships in front of a home crowd will be a major attraction, and for Birmingham the event confirms its status as the home of British athletics.