The Commonwealth Games will not be heading to Malaysia in 2026, after the Southeast Asian country’s government rejected a hosting offer, citing costs.
It is yet another blow to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which had offered Malaysia £100m (€116.4m/$125.9m) to support staging a games in the country.
The CGF is scrambling to find a host for 2026 after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew last July because of soaring costs.
News of the CGF’s financial proposal to Malaysia – Singapore is understood to have been made the same offer – was revealed earlier this month by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
It has since been debated by the government, but following a cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, sports minister Hannah Yeoh said in a statement today (Friday): “The Ministry of Youth and Sports today announced the government’s decision not to accept an offer from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“[The offer] was not expected to be able to cover the entire cost of organising a large-scale sports event. The government wants to focus on the development of sports as well as the welfare and well-being of the people.”
The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur has hosted the Commonwealth Games once before, back in 1998, becoming the first Asian city to do so.
Norza Zakaria, president of the OCM and Commonwealth Games Association of Malaysia, had been in favour of taking up the CGF’s offer, saying: “The Government of Malaysia should consider this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – and the associated support and financial investment… will build on the success of Kuala Lumpur 1998 and put Malaysia back onto the world sporting map.
“With the existing world-class facilities, Malaysia is well-equipped to host an international event of Commonwealth magnitude involving 74 Commonwealth nations and territories. The hosting will involve minimal Government spending and bring significant socio-economic benefits to the country.”
It remains to be seen where the CGF goes from here and if indeed the next edition of the games can take place in 2026 after another door closes on the organisation.
Calls and emails from SportBusiness to the CGF for comment have not been returned.
The CGF was thrown into turmoil after Victoria’s original decision on July 18, 2023. A month later the state agreed to pay Commonwealth Games stakeholders A$380m (€229m/$247.5m) in compensation.
A proposal was put forward for a “streamlined” 2026 Games in the Gold Coast, host of the 2018 event, and Perth, in the west of the country. However, in December this joint proposal collapsed, leading Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) chief executive Craig Phillips to state that the CGF should now “seriously consider” any offer from outside the country.
The English city of Birmingham hosted the last Commonwealth Games in 2022, but the UK will not be coming to the rescue this time, with UK Sport recently publishing its major event hosting target list for the coming decade, with the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games and men’s World Cup notable omissions on a list that includes the Fifa Women’s World Cup, Tour de France and the men’s Rugby World Cup.
Indeed, Birmingham had only been awarded the Games when financial problems emerged with original 2022 host city Durban, South Africa.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC), which has been mulling a potential bid for the 2034 Commonwealth Games, was quick to reject any move to fast-track its plans to 2026.
In November, Chris Jenkins was elected as the new president of the CGF, pledging to “remodel” the Games to allow more countries to host.
In addition to 2026, the CGF has no host in place for 2030 after the Canadian province of Alberta withdrew backing in August for what had been the sole bid for that edition of the Games.