Minsk ready, willing and able to host European Games with 300 Days to Go

25 August 2018

Today marks 300 Days to Go until the European Games Minsk 2019, and with only the final elements of the Shooting Centre left to be renovated, the Belarusian capital is almost entirely ready to host Europe’s premier multi-sports event.

Local organisers are already fine-tuning their preparations with a full slate of test events leading up to next year’s Games. In August, the Minsk European Games Organising Committee (MEGOC) hosted a beach soccer test event at the city’s new beach soccer venue, the only facility to be used at Minsk 2019 that needed to be built from scratch.

MEGOC also successfully hosted the European Judo Open that featured judokas from 40 countries, and is set to also welcome the Minsk Grand Prix and Minsk Cup international gymnastics competition and the Belarus Shotgun Shooting Open Championship in the coming days. In total, nine more test events are scheduled for 2018 and another 11 are lined up for 2019.

"With 300 days left until the main sports event of 2019, everyone at the Minsk European Games Organising Committee is working hard to ensure the success of the 2nd European Games," said MEGOC CEO George Katulin. "We highly appreciate all the interest and support we have received from our stakeholders and we’re looking forward to welcoming the best European athletes and passionate fans next June."

Spyros Capralos, European Olympic Committees (EOC) Chairman of the Coordination Commission for Minsk 2019, echoed those sentiments: "In 2019, the European Games will again act as a qualification event for a number of sports for the subsequent Olympic Games, this time at Tokyo 2020. We are therefore expecting all of our European NOCs to take part, and we trust that Minsk will provide all the athletes with the best conditions to perform well in preparation for Tokyo. We have seen during the first edition of this event in Baku in 2015 the value of this event, and we expect Minsk will again exceed expectations."

The continent’s best athletes from all 50 European National Olympic Committees will gather in Minsk next 21-30 June to participate in 15 sports: 3x3 basketball, archery, athletics, badminton, beach soccer, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, judo, karate, sambo, shooting, table tennis and wrestling.

Ten of the 15 sports will act as qualifiers for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, with the European Games also counting as the official European championships for four sports. All 12 sporting venues will be located a maximum 30 minutes’ drive from the Athletes’ Village, ensuring athletes can easily travel to training and competition facilities.

"The EOC and the organisers of the European Games 2019 are working with the European Federations to create an innovative and interesting sport programme that will add value for everyone who competes in Minsk," said European Games Executive Director Simon Clegg. "We have full confidence in Minsk to host an exceptional Games in 2019."

Tickets for the European Games will go on sale on 1 December 2018. Sales will be conducted by MEGOC via minsk2019.ticketpro.by within Belarus and through Official Resellers in their territories from 1 December 2018 until 28 February 2019. Worldwide ticket sales will begin on 1 March 2019.

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