LONDON: The British government’s sporting arm, UK Sport has raised its ambitions to invest heavily in bidding for the country to host the greatest of events across sport over the next two decades.
Post the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, the UK will be preparing for the Euro 2020 Football Championships. In the next three years, it will be hosting the 2021 Rugby League World Cup and the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
However, this plan goes further than this as UK Sport seeks to attract between 40-60 World and European events across Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth sports across the country by 2025. The organization claims that these have the potential to make $2.6 billion for the country’s economy with over 15 million spectators likely to be interested in them.
The Football Association (FA) in England is bidding at present to host the final of the 2021 Women’s Euro Championship final at the iconic Wembley Stadium while it is at the preparatory stages for presenting a massive bid alongside neighbours Scotland for the FIFA Men’s 2030 World Cup.
Seeing the proficiency of British cyclists and the popularity of the sport in the country, the United Kingdom is also working to be in contention for hosting the initial stages of cycling’s top three events in the world for the first time in its history – Giro D’Italia, La Vuelta a España and Tour de France.
UK’s secretary of state of digital, culture, media and sport, Jeremy Wright said: “The UK has consistently shown that we are a world-leading host of major sporting events. They enhance the country’s reputation internationally, increase the profile of sport at home and bring a significant boost to the economy. UK Sport’s targets demonstrate our continued ambition to bring the best global sport events to the country and remain a trusted partner of the sporting world.”
The chairperson of UK Sport, Dame Katherine Grainger said: “With passionate spectators, a fantastic portfolio of international sporting venues and the drive to keep improving and innovating, the UK offers the complete package.
“We want to maintain our standing as a world leader in this area and our ambitious event strategy will help us do just that over the coming decades.”
