Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced in April that the country would withdraw from hosting the 2019 Asian Games, citing a lack of preparedness and concerns that the event would not be financially viable. 

The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi was awarded the Games in November 2012 ahead of the Indonesian city of Surabaya. However, following a crisis meeting with officials, Dung confirmed that Vietnam would relinquish its hosting rights in order not to damage its reputation.

Vietnam’s decision has since opened up a bidding race for the Asian Games, with the 2014 edition due to commence in Incheon, Korea on Friday. Sheikh Ahmad said that the appointment of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta as the new host will be formally ratified at an OCA General Assembly meeting in Korea on Saturday. 

“In less than one month, Indonesia was there ready to host it,” he told the Reuters news agency. “We have solved the issues with other cities and we have a good agreement (so) let’s leave it to Indonesia because it was the competitor to Vietnam at the last vote. So Indonesia has to have the priority to host.”

However, the 18th Asian Games will be brought forward a year to 2018 because the Indonesian presidential election will take place in 2019. The date change still has to be approved by the general assembly, but Sheikh Ahmad said he expected the following edition would be held in 2023 then every four years to avoid clashing with the winter Olympics and football’s Fifa World Cup.

“It was decided the Asian Games would move from 2014 and 2018, to 2014 and 2019 because it would be good preparation for the Olympics,” he said. “But because Indonesia will have a presidential election in 2019 the requirement was to host it in 2018, which we don’t mind... but we have to give it to the general assembly to approve.”

Jakarta previously staged the Asian Games in 1962, and Indonesia held the Southeast Asian Games in 2011. The Chinese city of Guangzhou (pictured) hosted the most recent edition of the Asian Games in 2010.

Last month, the OCA’s vice-president Wei Jizhong endorsed Indonesia’s readiness to host the Asian Games.

To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net.

Borkai told the MOB’s official website that the Committee still has a long road to travel before a formal bid, but added that “our intentions are unequivocal – we would like to host the best athletes in the world in Budapest”.

The Associated Press news agency added that Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, head of BOM, a non-profit group of corporations and individuals backing an Olympic bid, said that while a bid for the 2028 Games would be “realistic,” the possibility of trying for 2024 “would not be surprising”.

The Hungarian city of Győr is due to host the summer edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2017 and Borkai believes the event can aid the country’s claims for the 2024 Olympics.

He added: “Győr’s 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival can prove that our country can successfully conduct a major multi-sport Olympic event, even if its size does not compare to an Olympics. We are confident that Győr can provide a positive impression on international public opinion, and make everyone aware that they should invest their trust in us.”

Budapest has previously bid for five editions of the Games, but Hungary has never been awarded the Olympics. 

Paris, Rome, Baku, Doha, Dubai and Istanbul, along with a South African bid, are among those that could enter the race for the 2024 Games.

Germany is weighing up whether to put forward Berlin or Hamburg, while the US Olympic Committee has identified Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C. as candidate cities.

Formal bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to select a host city in 2017.

To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net.

The influential ExCo member Moya Dodd, told HOST CITY that FIFA needs to make its host city election process more transparent by removing the secrecy around voting.

And in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s confirmation that he will stand for a fifth term as FIFA president, more executive committee members have publicly backed suggestions that limits should be imposed on terms of office. 

Asked by HOST CITY at Soccerex Global Convention whether increasing the number of people with the right to vote would improve perceptions of FIFA, Dodd said “The more important measure would be to make voting open. 

“If people are answerable for how they voted, it’s visible, it’s clear who they supported, then there’s no suggestion that there are multiple promises for a single vote. I think it would do a lot to rid the process of those sort of suspicions, if it was open voting.”

FIFA’s 27 executive committee members currently have the right to vote on the issues that govern world football. Just 22 people were eligible to cast votes for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as compared to the 94 IOC members that elected the host city of the 2020 Olympic Games. 

Another concern is that football’s world leaders are able to govern for an indefinite length of time. On Monday, FIFA’s 78-year old president Sepp Blatter confirmed in a video presentation to Soccerex Global Convention that he would stand for a historic fifth term. 

On the same day, FIFA Vice President Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein told the press that he supports time limits on terms of office – while stressing that Blatter has every right to stand again under the current rules. 

“The process of reform within FIFA needs to continue and eventually we should look at instigating term limits and maybe not just for the FIFA president but also for executive committee members as well, including myself,” Prince Ali said.

Speaking at Soccerex on Tuesday, Moya Dodd, who is vice president of the Asian Football Confederation as well as a FIFA ExCo member, said “In Asia we have a limit on age and terms. I think term limits are healthy. Age limits are discriminatory and not the best way to ensure turnover anyway.”

Jim Boyce, who at 70 is eight years younger than Sepp Blatter, said “I am in favour of an age limit and a time limit. I honestly feel that if someone has three terms – that’s 12 years – or an age of 75, then they have made a good contribution and it’s time for someone else to contribute.”

As well as the issues of age and tenure, FIFA is tackling a gender imbalance – a drive that began with Dodd’s appointment last year.

“It’s inevitable that more women become involved in the game and will be a strong part of the management of sporting enterprises,” said Dodd. 

Uefa president Michel Platini has decided not to stand against Sepp Blatter and it is not clear who might challenge Sepp Blatter to the presidency. Michele D’Hooghe, FIFA ExCo Member, told delegates at Soccerex “Michel Platini gave a very positive message to the last meeting of the presidential general secretaries of FIFA in Monaco at end of August. He didn’t say ‘I don’t go for FIFA’; he said ‘I choose for UEFA’."

To find out more about potential changes to bidding procedures for major events including the FIFA World Cup, register for HOST CITY: BID TO WIN, which takes place in London on 28th October 2014

Bergen overcame competition from Innsbruck, Austria; Melbourne, Australia and the Colombian capital Bogota.

The 84th staging of the UCI Road Worlds will take place from September 17-24, 2017 and Bergen’s successful candidature was confirmed at the 2014 championship in Ponferrada.

The Spanish city will wrap up this year’s event on Sunday, before it heads to Richmond, USA and the Qatari city of Doha in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Speaking to the Procycling.no website, UCI president Brian Cookson hailed Bergen for producing “by far the best application” out of the four that the governing body received.

He added: “We are very pleased that Bergen has delivered a strong application and we know the city will deliver what it has have promised, As with all international federations, we require host cities to have the money and resources to do a good job with the championship. 

“We are looking for a place where cycling is strong, has the potential for growth and can help strengthen cycling’s reputation. But most of all we are looking for candidates that can host an excellent event for riders, fans and the teams that work around the riders.”

Elsewhere, the UCI has awarded three more of its flagship events.

The 2016 World Cycle Tour Final will be staged in Perth, Australia, while the 2017 editions of the Cyclo-cross World Championships and MTB Marathon World Championships are to take place in Sanem, Luxembourg and Singen, Germany respectively.

The hosting decisions were reached at a two-day meeting of the UCI Management Committee and Cookson said: “I am delighted that we are taking cycling to even more people around the world. All these developments show the direction we are heading and, while there is still much to do, we are beginning to see the benefits of our efforts to restore trust in the UCI.”

Earlier in the week, the UCI announced that the season-ending Tour of Beijing has been left off the 2015 WorldTour road race calendar.

The EHF Congress in Dublin, Ireland decreed that Croatia will host the 2018 men’s event, while France will stage the 2018 women’s tournament.

The women’s Euro 2020 will head to Denmark and Norway, but it is the men’s event in the same year that will undergo a major hosting revamp.

The EHF last month revealed details of Sweden, Austria and Norway’s proposal to co-host the 2020 European Championships, with the organisation stating that its flagship men’s national team event was “likely” to be the first involving 24 teams and held in three countries.

In February, the EHF Executive agreed to submit a motion to the EHF Congress in Dublin for an expansion of the men’s European Championships from 16 teams to 24 as of 2022. In considering the changes, the Executive acknowledged that an expansion of the event would result in a need to strengthen the quality of youth national teams throughout Europe.

The federation added that expansion would also open up possibilities for nations to host one or more rounds of the EHF Euro for the first time.

However, the Executive also said that should an agreement be reached at the September 19-20 meeting, these plans could be advanced to the 2020 competition. This goal has now been realised.

Under the co-hosting plan, the three organisers plan to hold the championship in six different cities and venues, with the Euro 2020 final set to be played in front of 24,000 fans in Stockholm's Tele 2 Arena, a multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof.

The six preliminary round groups shall be played in the Austrian cities of Vienna and Graz, the Norwegian city of Trondheim and the Swedish cities of Malmö and Gothenburg. The main round shall take place in Vienna and either Malmö or Gothenburg before heading to Stockholm for the finale.

Norway and Denmark also co-hosted the women’s EHF Euro in 2010, while France hosted the 2001 World Championship and the 2007 women’s World Championship. Croatia staged the men’ EHF Euro in 2000 and also hosted the women’s World Championship in 2003 and the men’s World Championship in 2009.

Tarlós is running for re-election on October 12 and was responding to a question regarding a potential Olympic bid from his main rival, opposition centre-left candidate Ferenc Falus. Tarlós said, according to the Budapest Business Journal, that although the summer Games would have a major impact on tourism and sport in the Hungarian capital, now is not the right time to proceed with such a plan.

Tarlós’ comments come after MOB president Zsolt Borkai last week lent his backing to a possible Budapest bid for the 2024 Games, stating that “concrete steps” could be taken in the near future towards formalising an offer.

While acknowledging that the Committee still has a long road to travel before a formal bid, Borkai had added that “our intentions are unequivocal – we would like to host the best athletes in the world in Budapest”. Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy, head of BOM, a non-profit group of corporations and individuals backing an Olympic bid, said that while a bid for the 2028 Games would be “realistic,” the possibility of trying for 2024 “would not be surprising”.

Budapest has previously bid for five editions of the Games, but Hungary has never been awarded the Olympics. 

Formal bidding for the 2024 Olympics will begin in 2015, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to select a host city in 2017.

To find out more about bidding for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net.

HOST CITY Bid to Win, the inaugural event organised by the leading magazine for hosting major events, is attracting the highest calibre of speakers. 

Sir Craig Reedie, Vice President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that he will deliver the keynote address to the conference, on the subject of “Why Should Cities Bid for Events?”

The subject is highly topical as the conference takes place a few weeks before the IOC is set to announce the recommendations of its Olympic Agenda 2020 working groups, the foremost of which is a review of bidding procedure to boost the appeal of the Games.

After his keynote address, Sir Craig Reedie will be joined by Hasan Arat, a member of the Agenda 2020 working group on bidding procedure, on a panel discussion entitled “Olympic Agenda 2020: The Bidding Process Under Review”. 

While the possible outcomes of Olympic Agenda 2020 will not be revealed until after the Extraordinary IOC Session on December 8th in Monte Carlo, the panel discussion at Bid To Win will address many of the concerns under review, focusing on the recommendations of four European NOCs. 

This will be followed by an exclusive update from Rio 2016 on progress in the Olympic host city. The panel sessions that follow address the key concerns of cities and rights holders of sports, business and cultural events.

Other confirmed speakers include: Jürgen Müller (Head of FIFA World Cup); Wang Wei (Vice Chairman, Beijing Olympic City Development Association); David Grevemberg (CEO, Commonwealth Games Federation); Janez Kocijancic (Vice President, International Ski Federation; Dimitri Kerkentzes, (Chief of Staff, BIE); Panos Protopsaltis (Director of Transport, Baku 2015); ROCK IN RIO; Joe O’Neill (International Business Development Director, ARENA GROUP); Peter Tindemans (Secretary-General, EUROSCIENCE); Ali Kiremitçioglu (CEO, Istanbul 2020 Bid Committee); Iain Edmondson (Head of Major Events, London & Partners); Jordi Joly, (CEO, Barcelona City Council); Georg Spazier (CEO, Innsbruck Tirol Sports); Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros (CEO, ICSS Europe); Mike Lee OBE (Chairman, VERO); Helen Rowbotham (Director of Consulting, CSM); Robert Datnow (Managing Director, The Sports Consultancy); Lars Haue-Pedersen (Managing Director, TSE Consulting); Ben Avison, (Editorial Director, HOST CITY); Koos Tesselaar (Vice-Chairman, NIBC Bank).

“The momentum around Bid to Win has built up so quickly and we are thrilled to have such a distinguished array of speakers confirmed at this stage,” said Ben Avison, Editorial Director of HOST CITY and Chairman of Bid to Win. “The beautiful St James’ Court Taj Hotel will be the perfect venue for the occasion.”

HOST CITY Bid To Win conference takes place on Tuesday 28th October, with a drinks and buffet reception on the evening of Monday 27th October. To REGISTER visit www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

The Football Association (FA) in England was awarded the hosting rights after its only rival, the German Football Association (DFB), withdrew its bid for Munich’s Allianz Arena to stage the tournament finale just before the vote.

Earlier this month, DFB general secretary Helmut Sandrock revealed that a deal had been discussed with the FA whereby the German bid for the final games of Euro 2020 would be scrapped if England agreed not to bid for Euro 2024.

Germany wants to host Euro 2024 in its entirety while England is interested in hosting the whole of Euro 2028 after Euro 2020 is staged in multiple countries across the continent.

Munich did secure a package of three Euro 2020 group games and one quarter-final alongside Baku (Azerbaijan), Rome (Italy) and Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Brussels (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), Bucharest (Romania), Glasgow (Scotland) and Bilbao (Spain) were also awarded packages comprising three group games and one round-of-16 encounter.

Of the 19 Uefa member associations to have tabled bids, Belarus (Minsk), Bulgaria (Sofia), FYR Macedonia (Skopje), Israel (Jerusalem), Sweden (Stockholm) and Wales (Cardiff) failed to make the tournament’s final 13 host cities.

“This bidding process was open to more than 50 Uefa countries so for Wembley to be ultimately recognised in this way is testament to a lot of hard work behind the scenes,” FA chairman Greg Dyke said.

“We are proud of the FA’s bid and particularly its strong commitment to our ‘football for everyone’ goal. Making Uefa Euro 2020 a tournament that is open and inclusive was a huge focus. 

“The bid was about working with Uefa to celebrate young people, develop our grassroots volunteers and demonstrate the determination for all England teams, men’s and women’s, to compete at the top level.

“This was recognised by the leaders of all three political parties, the Mayor of London, the Sports Minister and everyone who contributed in putting the bid together.

“Having seen the impact that a home Olympic Games had on young sportsmen and women in our country, I hope that Uefa Euro 2020 serves as a similar incentive for our most promising players to realise their full potential over the next six years.”

The next edition of the tournament in 2016 will herald a new era for the tournament, with France hosting 24 teams – up from the 16 that competed at Euro 2012, which was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast were awarded the hosting rights for the 2019 and 2021 editions of the event, but the decision to grant the 2023 tournament to Guinea came as a shock.

Guinea tabled a bid to host either the 2019 or 2021 tournaments, with Conakry, Kankan, Labe and Nzerekore set to serve as the host cities.

Although the country has never hosted the Cup of Nations before, a CAF spokesperson told UK public-service broadcaster the BBC that Guinea’s impressive presentation “and commitment” had led the confederation to “exercise its power to make an immediate decision” to award the 2023 hosting rights.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast are established football nations and both have hosted the tournament on one previous occasion.

Cameroon, which staged the event in 1972, will use host venues in Bafoussam, Douala, Garoua and Yaounde in 2019.

The Ivory Coast hosted the tournament in 1984. The country will host matches across the cities of Abidjan, Bouake, Korhogo, San Pedro and the capital Yamoussoukro in 2021.

In January, CAF announced that a total of six bids were submitted for the 2019 Cup of Nations, from Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, DR Congo and Zambia, while three countries – Algeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea – tabled offers to stage the 2021 edition. DR Congo withdrew its bid two months ago.

However, the host of the 2017 Cup of Nations has still not been decided after Libya gave up its hosting rights due to security concerns in the country. 

CAF, which has set a deadline of September 30 for bids, is expected to make a decision next year. Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali and Zimbabwe have all expressed an interest in bidding.

Nigeria (pictured) won the most recent edition of the Cup of Nations in South Africa in 2013, and Morocco will host the 2015 tournament from January 17 to February 8.

TAT governor Thawatchai Arunyik told the Reuters news agency today (Thursday) that he had held encouraging talks with ASO chairman Etienne Amaury over the possibility of holding the Grand Depart in 2016.

This was a stance that ASO quickly refuted, confirming that Thailand could be in line to host a one-day race in association with the Tour - as has recently happened in Japan - but stating that there are no plans to take the race itself so far afield.

“There are talks indeed but not to bring the Tour to Thailand,” an ASO spokesman told Reuters. “There are discussions to settle in Thailand via a criterium, just like we did in Japan with the Saitama Criterium by Le Tour de France.”

Gaining a criterium would be a significant development for cycling in Thailand, even if it represents something of a step down from Arunyik’s earlier claims.

“We are still talking with Tour de France organisers but we are looking at the next fiscal year. So 2016, not 2015,” he had said.

“We’re not sure yet how many stages we will hold, whether it is one or two stages or the whole competition. This is something that still needs to be discussed.

“Thailand is the perfect location for this highly prestigious competition, not to mention that cycling as a sport is enjoying enormous popularity here at the moment.”

Last year’s rapturously received opening stages in Yorkshire, England marked the 20th occasion in the Tour de France’s 101-year history that it has started on foreign soil, although these excursions have been limited to western European countries.

Utrecht will host the Grand Depart in 2015 - the sixth time the Tour de France will have started in the Netherlands.