Finland’s capital Helsinki has been awarded hosting rights for the 2030 European Athletics Championships.
Helsinki was one of two bidders for the biennial multi-sport event, along with Brussels.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The decision was taken at the 181st European Athletics Council Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, today.
This will be the fourth time the European Athletics Championships will be held in the Finnish capital after previous editions in 1971, 1994 and 2012, making Helsinki the most prolific host city for the championships.
The 2030 edition will be held in the city's Olympic Stadium, which reopened in 2020 after extensive renovation.
As well as three previous iterations of the European Athletics Championships, Helsinki hosted the 1952 Olympic Games along with the 1983 and 2005 editions of the World Athletics Championships, becoming the first city to stage the championships twice.
European Athletics CEO Christian Milz said: “Finnish athletics fans are among the most passionate and knowledgeable in Europe and the consistently exceptionally strong television audiences for the European Athletics Championships in Finland demonstrates just how deeply our sport resonates with the Finnish public.
“Indeed, the 2026 European Athletics Championships yielded an average market share of 74% across the week, and television audiences peaked at 1.3 million for Alisa Vainio’s victory in the women’s marathon on the final day of the championships.
“We are certain the championships will generate huge interest not only locally but across the rest of Europe and beyond.”
Earlier this year, European Athletics announced that the next edition of its flagship event will be staged in the Polish city of Silesia from 3 to 8 June 2028.
This will be the first time that the European Athletics Championships will be held on Polish soil in the event's 92-year history.
This year’s European Athletics Championships were held in Birmingham, UK, from August 10 to 16. The 2024 edition was staged in Rome.
Finland won two gold medals in Birmingham courtesy of Silja Kosonen and Vainio in the women’s hammer and women’s marathon, respectively.
Riikka Pakarinen, president of the Finnish Athletics Federation, said: “This was a fantastic conclusion to a three-year bid project and the starting gun for the operational work to create a memorable event at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium for both athletes and spectators.
“Hopefully this will also encourage other Finnish sports to bid for major international events in Finland. We have a world-class stadium, ready infrastructure, a strong athletics heritage and growing public interest. With Finnish athletics still enjoying a strong upswing, the conditions for successful European Championships are in place.”
Meanwhile, at the council meeting in Lausanne, the 2029 European Athletics Indoor Championships were also awarded to Torun, Poland.
This will be the second time Torun has hosted the biennial championships this decade, having also staged the 2021 edition despite the severe restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The city also hosted the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
The 2029 European Athletics Indoor Championships will take place in the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun.
The 2027 edition of the event will be held in Valencia, Spain, from March 4 to 7.
