What sports are included?
10 sports will feature in the Games, including six Para sports:

  • 3x3 Basketball and 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball
  • Artistic Gymnastics
  • Athletics and Para Athletics
  • Bowls and Para Bowls
  • Boxing
  • Netball
  • Swimming and Para Swimming
  • Cycling Track and Para Cycling Track
  • Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting

Why are there fewer sports than recent editions of the Games?
The Games will include 10 sports – striking a balance between ensuring the event has a multi-sport feel and the need to manage financial and operational risk.

For the majority of the history of the Commonwealth Games the event has been held with approximately 10 sports. Post-1998 the Games have been flexible ranging between 15-20. Flexibility in the future will be important for hosts.

How were sports selected?
A host nation recommends the sports programme to be included in the Games.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has two compulsory sports – Athletics and  Para Athletics and Swimming and Para Swimming.

The selection of sports beyond that is based on several considerations. CGF Regulation 6 outlines the factors and criteria they consider when approving a sports programme to be included in the Commonwealth Games.

Factors include:

  • Universality of participation
  • Quality of competition
  • Benefit to Games hosts, including local appeal, cost and operational complexity
  • Alignment with CGF values
  • Creating a balanced programme

Within our specific concept there are a few key drivers including:

  • Maintaining manageable total athlete numbers
  • Fitting within a small number of existing venues, ideally with established operational plans for sport delivery
  • Minimising risks and uncertainty of legislative/planning complications due to the time and budgetary constraints

A sport selection panel considered all factors before making a recommendation to the CGFs Sport Committee and Executive Board.

Will this now be the sport programme for future editions of the Commonwealth Games?
No – the sport selection in 2026 will not influence the programme for future Games.

Why did you pick the four venues?
Firstly we had to identify suitable venues for the two compulsory sports, which led to the selection of Scotstoun Stadium and Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

Following that we looked to identify sites that would be most operationally viable and economically valuable to the Games concept, ideally with some able to host multiple sports at the same site. This provides significant budget savings through reduced hire, branding, security and transport costs.

Given the location and quality of facilities, the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) and the Emirates Arena/Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome were selected as the optimal venues for hosting multiple sports.

Was Hampden Park (host of athletics at Glasgow 2014) considered this time round?
Given the amount of investment required in converting Hampden Park in 2014, it was determined that this solution would not be a viable option on this occasion.

Why not use additional venues to host sports?
Cost and operational risk were the main drivers. Every venue introduced brings added costs and complexity for venue hire, security, transport etc. To minimise those risks it was determined that it would be too costly to add additional venues.

Did you consider venues outside Glasgow?
Introducing venues outside the one Local Authority brings added complexity and cost. Therefore it was most efficient to create a compact footprint within Glasgow.

Will sports be held in general public areas (e.g. streets and roads)?
We have not included sporting events held in public venues. Whilst we understand this will be disappointing for impacted athletes, the decision brings significant savings in transport and security costs, and minimises the disruption for the general public by avoiding road closures.

Our ticketing strategy and city activation will ensure the Games will be accessible to all, despite the absence of non-ticketed events like these.

Scotstoun Stadium and Campus is a multi-sport venue – could it host more than one sport?
Due to operational challenges with hosting Athletics at Scotstoun, it is not possible to host other sports at that venue within the period of competition.

Which sports will take place in which venues?
This is subject to final confirmation, and will be announced in due course.