The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the biggest sporting events in the world. They are a festival of international understanding that, like no other event, brings people of different backgrounds together in non-violent competition. The Games are an unforgettable experience for spectators, athletes and other participants.

A new bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Germany

With the support of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, in 2022 the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) started the process of bringing the Olympics and Paralympics to Germany. From the very beginning, the Federal Government welcomed the DOSB’s initiative to bring together organised sport, interested federal states, potential host cities and regions, and the Federal Government in a joint strategic effort to prepare Germany’s bid.

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The bid is a national effort

Seeking to host the Olympics and Paralympics requires a shared national effort. The partners involved in the DOSB’s strategic process have therefore agreed on shared goals and assumptions and have outlined them in a memorandum of understanding which serves as the starting point for a possible bid.
The partners want to achieve the following by the start of the Games:

• added value for the entire country and support for sport in particular;
• sustainable use of resources, in particular by using existing sport facilities in order to avoid new construction of sport infrastructure;
• public participation.

The entire Federal Government has backed the project in order to demonstrate the national significance of a bid and, for the first time, declared its support in the form of a Cabinet decision.

The entire Federal Cabinet endorsed the memorandum of understanding on 24 July 2024. In this way, the Federal Government marked its commitment to this process, an important step on the shared journey with the DOSB and the participating cities and federal states. Following this step, it is now necessary to develop a workable plan for hosting the Games.

Positive developments at international level

Despite or perhaps because of their significant impact, major sporting events continue to be the focus of public criticism. However, the Federal Government has noted that some international sport federations have made progress. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) too has adopted significant reforms to the bidding and hosting processes for the Olympics with its Agenda 2020+5. The bidding process is now much simpler and less expensive, for example. Following the reform, the DOSB can therefore focus on key issues of sustainability, participation and the development of sport in its strategic process for a possible German Olympic bid.

Paris 2024 as pilot project

The 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris were accompanied by hopes that the IOC’s reforms would have a positive effect. The Paris Games were the first to be held after the changes introduced by the IOC. The efforts and measures of the organisers, for example in the area of sustainability, showed that the reforms are working.

National strategy for major sporting events

The DOSB and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community in 2021 presented a national strategy for major sporting events to serve as the framework for a new bid to host the Olympics and other major sporting events, such as UEFA EURO 2024™, the 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, the 2022 European Championships in Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr World University Games in 2025. This strategy provides principles to guide the Federal Government’s sport policy measures. You can find more information about the national strategy for major sporting events here (in German only).