Bergen overcame competition from Innsbruck, Austria; Melbourne, Australia and the Colombian capital Bogota.

The 84th staging of the UCI Road Worlds will take place from September 17-24, 2017 and Bergen’s successful candidature was confirmed at the 2014 championship in Ponferrada.

The Spanish city will wrap up this year’s event on Sunday, before it heads to Richmond, USA and the Qatari city of Doha in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Speaking to the Procycling.no website, UCI president Brian Cookson hailed Bergen for producing “by far the best application” out of the four that the governing body received.

He added: “We are very pleased that Bergen has delivered a strong application and we know the city will deliver what it has have promised, As with all international federations, we require host cities to have the money and resources to do a good job with the championship. 

“We are looking for a place where cycling is strong, has the potential for growth and can help strengthen cycling’s reputation. But most of all we are looking for candidates that can host an excellent event for riders, fans and the teams that work around the riders.”

Elsewhere, the UCI has awarded three more of its flagship events.

The 2016 World Cycle Tour Final will be staged in Perth, Australia, while the 2017 editions of the Cyclo-cross World Championships and MTB Marathon World Championships are to take place in Sanem, Luxembourg and Singen, Germany respectively.

The hosting decisions were reached at a two-day meeting of the UCI Management Committee and Cookson said: “I am delighted that we are taking cycling to even more people around the world. All these developments show the direction we are heading and, while there is still much to do, we are beginning to see the benefits of our efforts to restore trust in the UCI.”

Earlier in the week, the UCI announced that the season-ending Tour of Beijing has been left off the 2015 WorldTour road race calendar.

The new golf course that is being developed for Rio 2016 has proved a controversial project owing to its location, speed of development and the fact the city already has a course that has hosted major events.

The course is being developed in a nature reserve located in the Barra da Tijuca area of the city, a suburb that is also well known for its expensive real estate. Plans for the course include the construction of 160 high-end apartments that are selling for as much as $7m (€5.5m).

Judge Eduardo Klasner said in a hearing last week that the defendants – the city and the developer – and the public prosecutor must find a way to protect the nature reserve with construction to be halted if a compromise is not reached.

The prosecutor has requested that a number of holes on the course be altered and has asked the developer to return some of the land to the ecological reserve. Judge Klasner has allowed sodding on the course to continue, but the facility must be completed before the Brazilian summer begins in December, with no imminent ruling on the case expected.

Felli in April was deployed by the IOC as a senior troubleshooter for Rio 2016 and said he is confident the ongoing troubles will not stop a test event from taking place ahead of the Games, either late in 2015 or early in 2016. 

“Our understanding today is that we will be ready for the first test event which will be needed to be done for the golf,” Felli told the Associated Press news agency. “We are satisfied on the progress we see today. But we are not playing tomorrow. We know that we are going to play for the test event.”

Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio 2016 organising committee and president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, said the matter is now in the hands of the city and Mayor Eduardo Paes. “Golf will be in the Olympics,” Nuzman said. “The city is responsible for the golf course.”

Rio 2016 last week stepped up its preparations for the Olympics by unveiling its ticketing strategy. More than half of the tickets available for the summer Games will be priced at less than R70 (€24/$31).

UCI president Brian Cookson told French daily newspaper l’Equipe that the governing body would not renew the four-year contract with Global Cycling Promotion, which promotes the event, beyond this year’s season finale from October 10-14.

The newspaper said that the race is worth about €500,000 ($640,000) to the UCI every year, but Cookson added: “There are other opportunities for financial returns.

“The main thing is that we believe that we do not intend to be a major organiser of cycling races. It is the function of others. Ours is to grow the sport and help its components.”

Beijing became Asia’s first event on the WorldTour calendar in 2011.

Cookson added that the UCI had been in talks with Global Cycling Promotion “for some time”, but added: “They have other goals and want to do different things. We too want to do something different.”

In confirming the calendar for the 2015 WorldTour at its annual meeting in Ponferrada, Spain, the UCI announced that the series would once again start with the Tour Down Under in Australia in January before travelling to Europe in March, starting with Paris-Nice in France.

The schedule will conclude in early October with the Giro di Lombardia in Italy, with the absence of the Tour of Beijing being the only major change to the calendar in comparison with this year.

“As we are getting close to the last two events in the 2014 UCI WorldTour, Il Lombardia and the Tour of Beijing, we can all reflect on what has been a fantastic season which demonstrated some tangible proof of the global growth of the UCI WorldTour,” Cookson added.

“We are convinced that the UCI WorldTour has now entered a new and exciting era.”

Cameroon and Ivory Coast were awarded the hosting rights for the 2019 and 2021 editions of the event, but the decision to grant the 2023 tournament to Guinea came as a shock.

Guinea tabled a bid to host either the 2019 or 2021 tournaments, with Conakry, Kankan, Labe and Nzerekore set to serve as the host cities.

Although the country has never hosted the Cup of Nations before, a CAF spokesperson told UK public-service broadcaster the BBC that Guinea’s impressive presentation “and commitment” had led the confederation to “exercise its power to make an immediate decision” to award the 2023 hosting rights.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast are established football nations and both have hosted the tournament on one previous occasion.

Cameroon, which staged the event in 1972, will use host venues in Bafoussam, Douala, Garoua and Yaounde in 2019.

The Ivory Coast hosted the tournament in 1984. The country will host matches across the cities of Abidjan, Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and the capital Yamoussoukro in 2021.

In January, CAF announced that a total of six bids were submitted for the 2019 Cup of Nations, from Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, DR Congo and Zambia, while three countries – Algeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea – tabled offers to stage the 2021 edition. DR Congo withdrew its bid two months ago.

However, the host of the 2017 Cup of Nations has still not been decided after Libya gave up its hosting rights due to security concerns in the country. 

CAF, which has set a deadline of September 30 for bids, is expected to make a decision next year. Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zimbabwe have all expressed an interest in bidding.

Nigeria (pictured) won the most recent edition of the Cup of Nations in South Africa in 2013, and Morocco will host the 2015 tournament from January 17 to February 8.

The EHF Congress in Dublin, Ireland decreed that Croatia will host the 2018 men’s event, while France will stage the 2018 women’s tournament.

The women’s Euro 2020 will head to Denmark and Norway, but it is the men’s event in the same year that will undergo a major hosting revamp.

The EHF last month revealed details of Sweden, Austria and Norway’s proposal to co-host the 2020 European Championships, with the organisation stating that its flagship men’s national team event was “likely” to be the first involving 24 teams and held in three countries.

In February, the EHF Executive agreed to submit a motion to the EHF Congress in Dublin for an expansion of the men’s European Championships from 16 teams to 24 as of 2022. In considering the changes, the Executive acknowledged that an expansion of the event would result in a need to strengthen the quality of youth national teams throughout Europe.

The federation added that expansion would also open up possibilities for nations to host one or more rounds of the EHF Euro for the first time.

However, the Executive also said that should an agreement be reached at the September 19-20 meeting, these plans could be advanced to the 2020 competition. This goal has now been realised.

Under the co-hosting plan, the three organisers plan to hold the championship in six different cities and venues, with the Euro 2020 final set to be played in front of 24,000 fans in Stockholm's Tele 2 Arena, a multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof.

The six preliminary round groups shall be played in the Austrian cities of Vienna and Graz, the Norwegian city of Trondheim and the Swedish cities of Malmö and Gothenburg. The main round shall take place in Vienna and either Malmö or Gothenburg before heading to Stockholm for the finale.

Norway and Denmark also co-hosted the women’s EHF Euro in 2010, while France hosted the 2001 World Championship and the 2007 women’s World Championship. Croatia staged the men’ EHF Euro in 2000 and also hosted the women’s World Championship in 2003 and the men’s World Championship in 2009.

The State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has joined Proctor and Gamble, Tissot, BP and Nar Mobile as the fifth official partner of the Baku 2015 European Games. 

The deal will see Baku 2015 European Games branding on every SOCAR forecourt and outlet across the country to raise awareness of the event.

“The majority of tickets will go to local people; that’s a big challenge,” said Charlie Wijeratna, commercial director at Baku 2015 in an exclusive interview that will be published in the autumn issue of HOST CITY magazine. 

“Shifting tickets to people for sports they’ve never historically paid to watch before, you need great local marketing partners.”

SOCAR, which employs more than 60,000 people, will also help to promote the Games through a marketing campaign in four other European countries, including Switzerland, Georgia, Romania and Ukraine.

Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sports and CEO of Baku 2015, said “The European Games is an opportunity to promote Azerbaijan to the rest of the world and to have the backing of such a highly valued international company is of vital importance.”

SOCAR have a long standing association with major sporting bodies and events, including the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. It is also sponsoring the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship in France.

Mr Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, said “Sponsorships across sport are a very significant point for us, and SOCAR is honoured to be associated with such an exciting moment in the history of the country.”

The European Games takes place in Baku from 12 – 28 June 2015, featuring 20 sports and 6,000 athletes.

 “As we continue to count down the days until the beginning of the European Games, it gives us great confidence to know that many major Azerbaijani businesses are backing our efforts to create an innovative event that will unite Europe through sport,” said Simon Clegg, Chief Operating Officer of Baku 2015.

“We are very pleased with how the sponsorship programme has gone,” Wijeratna told HOST CITY.

The Football Association (FA) in England was awarded the hosting rights after its only rival, the German Football Association (DFB), withdrew its bid for Munich’s Allianz Arena to stage the tournament finale just before the vote.

Earlier this month, DFB general secretary Helmut Sandrock revealed that a deal had been discussed with the FA whereby the German bid for the final games of Euro 2020 would be scrapped if England agreed not to bid for Euro 2024.

Germany wants to host Euro 2024 in its entirety while England is interested in hosting the whole of Euro 2028 after Euro 2020 is staged in multiple countries across the continent.

Munich did secure a package of three Euro 2020 group games and one quarter-final alongside Baku (Azerbaijan), Rome (Italy) and Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bucharest (Romania), Glasgow (Scotland) and Bilbao (Spain) were also awarded packages comprising three group games and one round-of-16 encounter.

Of the 19 Uefa member associations to have tabled bids, Belarus (Minsk), Bulgaria (Sofia), FYR Macedonia (Skopje), Israel (Jerusalem), Sweden (Stockholm) and Wales (Cardiff) failed to make the tournament’s final 13 host cities.

“This bidding process was open to more than 50 Uefa countries so for Wembley to be ultimately recognised in this way is testament to a lot of hard work behind the scenes,” FA chairman Greg Dyke said.

“We are proud of the FA’s bid and particularly its strong commitment to our ‘football for everyone’ goal. Making Uefa Euro 2020 a tournament that is open and inclusive was a huge focus. 

“The bid was about working with Uefa to celebrate young people, develop our grassroots volunteers and demonstrate the determination for all England teams, men’s and women’s, to compete at the top level.

“This was recognised by the leaders of all three political parties, the Mayor of London, the Sports Minister and everyone who contributed in putting the bid together.

“Having seen the impact that a home Olympic Games had on young sportsmen and women in our country, I hope that Uefa Euro 2020 serves as a similar incentive for our most promising players to realise their full potential over the next six years.”

The next edition of the tournament in 2016 will herald a new era for the tournament, with France hosting 24 teams – up from the 16 that competed at Euro 2012, which was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

HOST CITY Bid to Win conference, which takes place on 28th October 2014, is attracting the most influential figures in major events.

David Grevemberg, who oversaw what was widely hailed as the “greatest Games ever” in Glasgow, is to speak at HOST CITY Bid to Win just six days before he takes on his new role as CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation. 

Grevemberg is set to close the conference with a panel discussion entitled “Beyond the Bid: Winning for the Future,” joined by Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association, Jordy Joli, CEO of finance at Barcelona City Council and Ali Kiremitcioglu, CEO of Istanbul’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. 

The panel will discuss whether the visibility gained from bidding justifies the cost, how to ensuring that event delivery reflects promises made in a bid, and how to use a bid to attract investment that works for the future of the city.

Grevemberg’s appointment as CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation was announced in June but he had intimated to HOST CITY readers earlier in the year that he was committed to the long term development of the Commonwealth Games as an event property. 

“One of the biggest challenges is to continue to make sure that the Games represent quality, quantity and universality,” he told HOST CITY. “As the Commonwealth Games Federation moves forwards and future hosts come down, it’s about really making sure that the Games can manage all of that and perpetuate itself further by ensuring that it is continually relevant.”

Grevemberg joins a long list of distinguished and influential speakers, including Sir Craig Reedie (Vice President, IOC); Jürgen Müller (Head of FIFA World Cup); Wang Wei (Vice Chairman, Beijing Olympic City Development Association); Janez Kocijancic (Vice President, International Ski Federation; Dimitri Kerkentzes, (Chief of Staff, BIE); Panos Protopsaltis (Director of Transport, Baku 2015); ROCK IN RIO; Joe O’Neill (International Business Development Director, ARENA GROUP); Peter Tindemans (Secretary-General, EUROSCIENCE); Ali Kiremitçioglu (CEO, Istanbul 2020 Bid Committee); Antonio Fernandez Arimany (DG,  International Triathlon Union); Iain Edmondson (Head of Major Events, London & Partners); Jordi Joly, (CEO, Barcelona City Council); Georg Spazier (CEO, Innsbruck Tirol Sports); Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (CEO, ICSS Europe); Mike Lee OBE (Chairman, VERO); Helen Rowbotham (Director of Consulting, CSM); Robert Datnow (Managing Director, The Sports Consultancy); Lars Haue-Pedersen (Managing Director, TSE Consulting); Ben Avison, (Editorial Director, HOST CITY); Koos Tesselaar (Vice-Chairman, NIBC Bank).

“The momentum around Bid to Win has built up so quickly and we are thrilled to have such a distinguished array of speakers confirmed at this stage,” said Ben Avison, Editorial Director of HOST CITY and Chairman of Bid to Win.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced in April that the country would withdraw from hosting the 2019 Asian Games, citing a lack of preparedness and concerns that the event would not be financially viable. 

The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi was awarded the Games in November 2012 ahead of the Indonesian city of Surabaya. However, following a crisis meeting with officials, Dung confirmed that Vietnam would relinquish its hosting rights in order not to damage its reputation.

Vietnam’s decision has since opened up a bidding race for the Asian Games, with the 2014 edition due to commence in Incheon, Korea on Friday. Sheikh Ahmad said that the appointment of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta as the new host will be formally ratified at an OCA General Assembly meeting in Korea on Saturday. 

“In less than one month, Indonesia was there ready to host it,” he told the Reuters news agency. “We have solved the issues with other cities and we have a good agreement (so) let’s leave it to Indonesia because it was the competitor to Vietnam at the last vote. So Indonesia has to have the priority to host.”

However, the 18th Asian Games will be brought forward a year to 2018 because the Indonesian presidential election will take place in 2019. The date change still has to be approved by the general assembly, but Sheikh Ahmad said he expected the following edition would be held in 2023 then every four years to avoid clashing with the winter Olympics and football’s Fifa World Cup.

“It was decided the Asian Games would move from 2014 and 2018, to 2014 and 2019 because it would be good preparation for the Olympics,” he said. “But because Indonesia will have a presidential election in 2019 the requirement was to host it in 2018, which we don’t mind... but we have to give it to the general assembly to approve.”

Jakarta previously staged the Asian Games in 1962, and Indonesia held the Southeast Asian Games in 2011. The Chinese city of Guangzhou (pictured) hosted the most recent edition of the Asian Games in 2010.

Last month, the OCA’s vice-president Wei Jizhong endorsed Indonesia’s readiness to host the Asian Games.

To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net.

Rio 2016 said that the strategy would allow the event to be “open to everyone”, with a total of 7.5 million tickets set to go on sale covering 717 different competition sessions in 28 sports, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

About 3.8 million tickets will be priced at R70 or less, with the cheapest ticket costing R40.

Tickets for the ‘super final’ athletics events and the men’s volleyball final at the historic Maracana stadium (pictured), as well as the beach volleyball finals at the Copacabana and the men’s basketball final at the Barra complex, will be available from a starting price of R350, rising to R1,200.

Opening ceremony tickets will cost between R200 and R4,600.

The full ticketing programme will be disclosed alongside the competition schedule in November, when fans will be able to register their interest in particular sports and receive tailored news updates via email.

The first of two ticketing draws for Brazilian residents will take place in March 2015 before non-Brazilian residents will be able to buy tickets from later in the year before a second worldwide phase in January 2016 is conducted on a first-come-first-served basis online.

Earlier this month, Eventim was selected as Rio 2016’s ticketing services provider following an international tender process.

The company has previous Olympic experience having served the 2006 and 2014 winter Games, in Turin, Italy and Sochi, Russia, respectively. 

Eventim said: “In its partnership with Rio 2016, Eventim will continue to contribute to the Olympic and Paralympic movement by providing a robust, state-of-the-art ticketing platform, building on those which have been delivered for Torino 2006 and Sochi 2014 and embracing technological and operational know-how.”