Yerevan in Armenia has been named host of the 2027 Francophonie Games, both the Armenian government and the Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) announced last week.
The capital was unanimously elected host of the 10th edition of the event by the 126th extraordinary Session of the Permanent Council of La Francophonie after a campaign was launched last November. The virtual meeting included 88 member states and governments that are French-speaking or former French colonies.
The French-speaking population of Armenia is less than one percent but the nation was admitted to La Francophonie in 2012, activating its eligibility to host the sport and cultural event aimed to promote values among youth in the French language. More than 50 member countries and regions represented by over 4000 athletes are expected to participate in at least nine sports and several cultural activities such as poetry, photography and song.
The OIF and the International Committee of the Francophonie Games (CIJF) have struggled to find hosts for the event that is intended to be held every four years, and a recent string of delays left a six -year gap between the 2017 edition held in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and the 2023 edition that was staged in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, last August.
The 2021 edition was set to be hosted by New Brunswick’s Dieppe and Moncton (Canada has three member regions; bilingual province New Brunswick, Quebec and the rest of Canada) but skyrocketing costs blamed on flawed budget estimates had provincial government officials walking away from the project in January 2019. In July that year Kinshasa was chosen as the replacement.
The Games were later delayed until 2022 due the the COVID-19 pandemic and a scheduling conflict with the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics held in 2021. Then additional difficulties including construction delays pushed the Games forward a further year until 2023.
Similar problems have plagued other regional multi-sport events. The Commonwealth Games is still desperately searching for a 2026 host after Victoria in Australia backed out due to cost concerns. The Pan American Games is currently considering Asuncion in Paraguay and Lima in Peru as replacement for Barranquilla after the Colombian city had its 2027 hosting rights stripped in January due to missed financial commitments. A new election is scheduled for next month but the winning host will have some catching up to do.
The first Francophonie Games was held in 1989 by Casablanca and Rabat, Morocco followed in 1994 by Paris, France. The Games were intended to be rotated between the North and the South, but recent difficulties have seen that strategy fail.
La Francophonie has already opened up the application process for the 11th edition of the Games scheduled for 2031.
