Ghana interested in hosting 2026 Commonwealth Games - Sports Minister confirms

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has disclosed that the government has engaged the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to discuss the possibility of Ghana hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Mustapha Ussif stated that Commonwealth Games Federation president Chris Jenkins OBE has already visited Ghana and toured some of the facilities.

He also stressed that Ghana has a chance because the CGF intends to have an African country host the competition.

“In fact, the president of Commonwealth Games was in Ghana. He has visited our facilities and held a meeting with me. I had the opportunity to attend some of their meetings and their programmes. They said it is time for Africa to host the Commonwealth Games and Ghana, we have the facilities now,” he said on GHOne TV.

He continued that hosting the Commonwealth Games would not be as cost-intensive as the African Games which was hosted in Ghana in March 2024.

“It is not going to cost us as much as it cost us to organise the African Games if we decide as a country to go for Commonwealth Games,” he said.

He also noted that the CGF offers the host nation support funds, unlike the Africa Games.

“The beauty of the Commonwealth Games is that they will even give you the funding that will come from the Commonwealth Games Secretariat, unlike the African Games.”

The Commonwealth Games is without a host nation after Australia withdrew and Malaysia rejected an offer to step in.

The CGF offered Malaysia £100 million ($126 million) in supporting funds but the Asian country declined.