Australia withdraw as host of CWG 2026: CWG Federation taken aback by Victoria premier's decision

Australian state Victoria's decision to withdraw as the host of the 2026 Commonwealth Games has left the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) hugely disappointed.

In a statement, the CGF said it was given only eight hours' notice of the decision, which was announced by Victoria's state premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday (July 18) morning.

Australia - who have won 984 gold, 820 silver, and 759 bronze medals so far in CWG - have hosted the Commonwealth Games five times. The 2018 Commonwealth Games was held in Gold Coast and in the Victorian capital of Melbourne hosted it back in 2006. Australia’s Victoria state withdraws as host of Commonwealth Games 2026, event's future in doubt

Victoria's expenditure for hosting CWG 2026

Mr Andrews told media in Melbourne the original budget for the games was estimated to be around 2.6 billion dollars (INR 144.97 crore approx) but had ballooned out to nearly triple that.

He said: "Last year when the Commonwealth Games authorities approached us and needed someone to step in to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as a state we were happy to help out, but of course not at any price.

"I've made a lot of difficult decisions in this job, this is not one of them.

"It's just quite obvious, we are not going to spend six to seven billion dollars on a 12-day sporting event.

"We don't just make popular decisions, we do what's right and it would simply be wrong."

CGF stunned by Victoria state premier's announcement

The CGF responded by saying it was taken aback by the announcement.

It said in a statement: "This is hugely disappointing for the Commonwealth Sports Movement, for athletes around the Commonwealth and the Organising Committee who are well advanced in their planning and preparation.

"The reasons given are financial. The numbers quoted to us today of 6 billion dollars are 50% more than those advised to the Organising Committee board at its meeting in June.

"These figures are attributed to price escalation primarily due to the unique regional delivery model that Victoria chose for these Games, and in particular relate to village and venue builds and transport infrastructure."

2026 CWG Host Regions Proposed by Victoria

The 2026 Commonwealth Games were set to be held in regional Victoria across towns like Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton.

The CGF statement continued: "Since awarding Victoria the Games, the Government has made decisions to include more sports and an additional regional hub, and changed plans for venues, all of which have added considerable expense, often against the advice of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA).

"We are disappointed that we were only given eight hours' notice and that no consideration was given to discussing the situation to jointly find solutions prior to this decision being reached by the Government.

"Up until this point, the Government had advised that sufficient funding was available to deliver the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games."

Mr Andrews said the estimates were "clearly under the actual cost", and the state government is instead going to use the money budgeted to improve sporting complexes and housing in regional Victoria.

The CGF said it remains "committed to finding a solution for the Games in 2026 that is in the best interest of our athletes and the wider Commonwealth Sport Movement".

(With Inputs from Agencies)