Germany backs Munich for 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympics

Germany, which is bidding to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044, expressed its support for Munich’s bid, a strong proposal backed by the local population, hoping to leverage the prestige of the Bavarian capital to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC), AFP reports.

As a sign of the involvement and support of the highest levels of government, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was the one who opened the envelope containing the name of the winner of the internal competition between the two remaining German bids, Munich and Cologne, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

In the end, the Bavarian capital won over an absolute majority of the members of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), who were called upon to vote on Saturday.

“Germany has a candidate. The city of Munich will represent us in this race. (...) We are moving forward with courage: Germany is capable of hosting the Olympic Games,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in response.

Germany has hosted the Olympic Games three times: the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Summer Games in Berlin in the same year, both of which were used for propaganda purposes by Nazi Germany. In 1972, Munich hosted the global event, which was notably marked by the attack on the Israeli delegation in the Olympic Village, resulting in the deaths of 11 members of the delegation.

Since 1972, Germany has made seven unsuccessful attempts, with failures occurring at different stages, including IOC session votes, rejection of bids by the Olympic sports body, or obstacles in referendums.

Munich’s bid is centered around the Olympic Park in the northern part of the city, a tangible legacy of the 1972 Olympic Games and often cited as an example, as well as the city center and the surrounding metropolitan area.

Ten days before the DOSB decision, Munich secured two consecutive bids: to host the 2028 Champions League final at the Allianz Arena, for the third time after 2012 and 2025, and the 2031 World Athletics Championships at the Olympiastadion, the leading Olympic sport, demonstrating the city’s international appeal and prestige.

At the end of October 2025, Munich became the first city to overcome the referendum hurdle that had led to the failure of several German bids in the recent past, including Munich’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Hamburg’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

With voter turnout at 42%, two-thirds of Munich residents (66.4%) voted in favor of the project, encouraged by the popular success of the 2022 European Championships. Only Cologne and the other 16 cities involved in the Rhine-Ruhr project achieved similar support in a referendum, with 66% voting in favor and average turnout of 32%.

Munich and the DOSB will now continue the continuous dialogue phase with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), leading to an initial selection in March 2027. This will then move into a strategic dialogue phase, during which the shortlisted bids will be assessed more closely and potential host cities will be visited by an IOC delegation.

At the end of 2028, the IOC will designate one or more “preferred hosts”, which will have to provide a series of guarantees. A final decision will then be made in mid-2029, during an IOC session.

Due to the continental rotation system, the 2036 Olympic Games are expected to return to Asia. Turkey, India, Qatar and South Korea are in the race, although the IOC announced two years ago that there were “a double-digit number of interested parties” for 2036 and 2040.

Photo: Chat GPT