The race to secure hosting rights for the 2036 Summer Olympic Games is officially underway, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirming that seven countries across four continents have formally entered the early bidding process, including one contender that would make history as the first African nation to ever host the Summer Games.
South Africa, the trailblazer aiming to break Africa’s long-standing drought as an Olympic host, has advanced its plans to stage the 2036 Games across three major urban hubs: Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. While Durban was originally selected to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games before pulling out in 2017, the country has moved forward to reframe its large-scale event experience into a bold Olympic bid.
South Africa is joined by four other first-time hopefuls: Hungary, India, Qatar, and Turkey, all of which have ramped up preparations to bring the Olympic movement to their shores for the first time. Two veteran hosts, Germany and South Korea, have also entered early talks with the IOC, bringing decades of major international event experience to their 2036 bids.
Under the IOC’s revised timeline for future host selection, all seven bidders are currently engaged in ongoing, structured dialogue with the Olympic governing body. National committees are required to submit their formal notices of intent by October 31, per the IOC’s announced schedule. Following the submission deadline, all interested parties will deliver virtual presentations to the IOC Future Host Commission in November 2025. Independent feasibility assessments of each bid will be completed by March 2027, after which the successful shortlisted candidates will advance into formal strategic dialogue with the IOC ahead of a final selection.
Breaking down the details of each national bid: India has selected Ahmedabad as its proposed host city. The western Indian metropolis is already lined up to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and has submitted a bid for the 2036 Asian Games, and it boasts the 132,000-seat Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket venue, which has hosted four of the last five Indian Premier League finals.
Hungary has tapped its capital Budapest as its host city, which most recently proved its ability to handle elite global competition by hosting the 2022 World Aquatics Championships and the 2023 World Athletics Championships. Qatar, which successfully hosted the 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup across a network of purpose-built venues in its capital, is putting forward Doha as its bid city. Turkey, which has fallen short in three previous Olympic bids for 2000, 2008, and 2020, has once again nominated its largest city Istanbul, which is already scheduled to host the 2027 European Games to build on its event credentials.
For the returning hosts, Germany is putting forward Munich, which previously hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics (Germany also hosted the 1936 Games in Berlin). South Korea’s bid combines its 1988 Olympic host city Seoul with the neighboring North Jeolla Province, drawing on the country’s decades of experience in managing elite global sporting events.
Beyond the 2036 contest, the IOC confirmed it is also holding preliminary non-committal talks with multiple other national Olympic committees interested in hosting Games beyond 2036. Most notably, the UK government confirmed back in May that it is holding early discussions about backing a potential British bid for the 2040s Olympics and Paralympics.
The Olympic host calendar is already locked in through the next decade: Los Angeles will stage the 2028 Summer Games, and Brisbane, Australia will host the 2032 edition, marking the first time the Games have returned to Australia since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.