Countries Preparing for Major Sporting Events

The clock is ticking for countries preparing for major sporting events, the dust has barely settled on the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the clock is already ticking for what comes next. Whether in Glasgow or Los Angeles, host cities are well into planning a dazzling series of events over the coming years, each providing a platform for the city’s infrastructure, culture and national pride to be featured on the international stage. Let’s see what’s in the works and who’s preparing!

Key Takeaways

• The Glasgow 2026 Games are set to be held on a smaller scale than ever, beginning on 23 July and ending on 2 August in Scotland.
• The 2026 Asian Games is to follow soon with their host taking place in Aichi and in the city of Nagoya, Japan from 19 September to 4 October.
• Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games is the first Olympic Games to be held on the African continent, from October 31 to November 13.
• The City of Los Angeles is hosting its own 2028 Summer Olympics, which will include squash and flag football as new sports added to the Olympic Games, as well as the return of cricket, lacrosse and baseball/softball.
• The 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup moves to Brazil, the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup to Australia and the 2027 Cricket World Cup to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
• These events are being seen as opportunities for bigger objectives and development of infrastructure, increase in tourism, and, in Dakar’s case, a symbolic milestone for African sport.

Glasgow has been preparing for the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games in 2026 are now being prepared in Scotland’s largest city, with final touches being put in place for the event that will take place from July 23 to August 2. The programme for Glasgow’s Games will be slightly more pared back than in recent editions, as host cities across the globe are increasingly going for more sustainable and cost effective models, rather than the ‘mega’ sporting events that sometimes can be made up of too many expensive and wasteful elements. It is an engagement that has the benefit of existing venues, and institutional experience, for a city that already has the Games in its history.

Japan’s Double-City Asian Games

Glasgow has now closed its doors and now it’s time to turn the attention back to Japan, where hosts Aichi and Nagoya will host the Asian Games from September 19 to October 4 in 2026. Many large scale events today are broken up between two cities to share the burden of the facilities and the economic impact that they create over a larger area as opposed to just one host city.

Dakar: Historic first for Africa

One of the most symbolic events on the near-term agenda is probably the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games taking place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 in Senegal. It will be the first Olympic event youth or otherwise, to be hosted on African soil, and will be a milestone decades in the making for a continent that has produced Olympic champions, but never hosted the Games of the Games itself. Apart from the sporting event, the organizers and the International Olympic Committee are taking Dakar as a litmus test of African sport facilities and its potential for future hosting bids for senior Olympic Games in Africa.

Los Angeles Builds Toward 2028

Two years before the 2028 Summer Games are set to take place from July 14 to 30 in some of the most familiar venues in Southern California, LAX is gearing up for the event. The Games will feature over 50 Olympic and Paralympic sports, with a number of sporting events being introduced for the first time in the Olympic programme, including flag football and squash, and their return, such as cricket, lacrosse, baseball and softball. Early indication of the extent to which today’s Olympic logistics now start in advance of the Games is that LA28 organisers have already begun accepting public entries for the second round of the public ticket draw, which will take place on August 2026.

The 2027 Calendar is already starting to form

Further out, 2027 is poised to be a pivotal year on its own. The FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Brazil next week, on June 24 and runs through July 25, with the US women’s national team, the reigning Olympic gold medal winner, looking to add a World Cup to its trophy collection. Australia will also play host to the Men’s Rugby World Cup and the next World Cup in cricket will be at South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, it is not a coincidence that cricket is moving towards the trend of multiple nations hosting the tournament. Also wrapping up the year, Budapest will host the World Aquatics Championships and the US and Canada will co host the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Cup, with the final event taking place at the Honda Arena in Anaheim, set to host volleyball in the 2028 LA Olympics, allowing athletes to experience Olympic-level facilities a year in advance.

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Mega sports events have come to mean much more to the host countries than they do to the sport itself. They’re being seen as more and more as instruments for investment in infrastructure, international tourism, and soft power projection, all very apparent in the case of Dakar, which isn’t only hosting the Youth Games, but is also building credibility for future bids for larger, more prestigious, events. The small and budget-friendly 2026 option that Glasgow is going with is part of a wider reworking by the hosting community on how to reap those gains without the budget-busting and white elephant stadiums that have bedevilled some previous Games. The current run of events through Glasgow, Nagoya, Dakar, Brazil, Australia, and to an end in Los Angeles, is one of the most geographically varied in recent sport, across five continents and a truly broad range of hosting models and aspirations.

A Note on Sourcing

Details for the tournaments, which have not yet been solidified, may change as organizing committees prepare the tournaments and schedules, as stated above in scheduling and preparation details from NBC Olympics, Wikipedia’s sports-year overview pages, Elite Traveller and sports calendar trackers as Event dates, venues, and formats.