Ghana could potentially host the next Commonwealth Games in 2026. Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif made the revelation while adding that it will cost the country less than it spent to host the 2023 African Games in March 2024.
According to the minister, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) wants an African nation to host it. Based on that and the lack of interest from other African countries, Ghana with its new facilities fresh from hosting the African Games is highly touted to win the bid.
“Their programs, they want an African nation. They said it is time for Africa to host the Commonwealth Games, and Ghana, we have the facilities now. It is not going to cost us as much as it cost us to organize the African Games if we decide as a country to go for Commonwealth Games” the minister said.
Mustapha Ussif added that “The beauty of the Commonwealth Games is that they will give you funding that will even give you funding that will come from the Commonwealth Secretariat, unlike the African Games.”
The money the minister mentioned is the £100 million that was made available to Malaysia to step in after many member nations dropped their interest including the original 2026 host Victoria State.
Malaysia turned down the offer to hosting the games, saying the country could not commit to hosting the competition at such short notice. It said matters relating to cost, insufficient funding supporting and little time to assess the potential economic impact influenced its decision to pull out.
“If we had a longer time, we would definitely do it, but because there’s such a short time, we definitely can’t do it,” Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
“When we assessed the viability of hosting the Games, the length of time needed and the cost was seen to be particularly prohibitive,” Fadzil added.
Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh indicated that their government made the decision after concluding that the Commonwealth Games Federation’s offer of 100 million pounds ($126.21m) in supporting funds would not cover the entire cost.
Malaysia had the offer to step in after the Australian state of Victoria cited high costs, with the CGF offering 100 million pounds ($126 million) to support the host nation.
“The confidential process to determine a host is continuing with other interested Commonwealth Games Associations,” a CGF spokesperson previously said.
Meanwhile, if a new host is not found, there is the possibility that the games would be postponed to 2027 or cancelled altogether. Since the competition was first hosted in 1930, it has only been cancelled twice, in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. The Commonwealth Games are contested by 72 countries and territories of the former British Empire.
