The preparations for the Istanbul 2027 European Games were one of the main items on the agenda at the first meeting of the year of the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees -EOC-, held in Rome. With fifteen months to go before the Games, the body reviewed the status of the project together with representatives of the Turkish Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the local organising committee, following the first visit to Istanbul by the Coordination Commission in January. In that context, EOC President Spyros Capralos highlighted the coordination maintained with the Turkish Government, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the National Olympic Committee, while also noting that the event’s commercial base continues to grow stronger.

The meeting also marked a further step in the event’s organisational structure. After Istanbul 2027 Organising Committee CEO Veli Ozan Çakir outlined the state of preparations from the host city’s perspective, the EOC signed an amendment to the Host City Contract to formally incorporate the organising committee into the event’s contractual framework. The update from Istanbul also came at a moment of internal reflection for the EOC after Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026, two editions that Capralos described as reference points for a “new era” for the Olympic Movement ahead of the next major continental event in 2027.

Six sports already point to Istanbul as a route to Los Angeles

Looking ahead to Los Angeles 2028, the Istanbul 2027 European Games are shaping up to have a direct role in several Olympic qualification processes. The systems published so far place the continental event as a pathway in at least six sports: shooting, archery, sport climbing, triathlon, modern pentathlon and squash. In some cases, Istanbul is mentioned explicitly within the qualification calendar approved for LA28.

In sport climbing, World Climbing states that the road to Los Angeles will begin in 2027 and that the Istanbul European Games will be one of the first qualifying events. In modern pentathlon and squash, the official qualification documents for LA28 also include Istanbul 2027 within the European continental pathway. Added to that is archery, whose system allocates places through the continental Games, and triathlon, which includes the European Games among its qualification routes to the Olympic Games.

A programme still open

In shooting, the European route is included in the system approved by the International Shooting Sport Federation -ISSF-, which allocates quota places through the European Games. At the same time, the European Olympic Committees -EOC- had already been stressing since 2024 that Istanbul 2027 should strengthen its role as an Olympic qualification platform, with the aim of linking a significant part of the sports programme to Los Angeles 2028.

While the European Olympic Committees -EOC- has yet to make public the final list of disciplines, the current picture combines sports already officially included with others whose presence appears to be at a very advanced stage because of their place in the qualification systems for Los Angeles 2028. In that context, weightlifting is already listed as a confirmed discipline, while shooting, archery, sport climbing, triathlon, modern pentathlon and squash are among the sports with the highest degree of certainty, although the full programme for Istanbul 2027 has yet to be publicly finalised.

Istanbul leans on proven venues to support its legacy

On the infrastructure side, Istanbul 2027 is built around an idea the EOC has repeated since the city was awarded the Games: making use of the network of facilities already available in the city and avoiding new constructions specifically for the event. The European body maintains that the Games will follow the model of Kraków-Małopolska 2023, based on existing and temporary venues, while EOC President Spyros Capralos argued that Istanbul is “in a great position” to host the best edition in history. Along the same lines, acting mayor Nuri Aslan presented the event in 2025 as a project of lasting legacy “from urban planning to social inclusion”, a formulation through which the organisers are seeking to connect the event not only to the sporting calendar, but also to the city’s image and future use.

Around the project are venues such as the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, which hosted the UEFA Champions League finals in 2005 and 2023, the Sinan Erdem Dome, which staged the EuroBasket 2017 final, and the Ataköy Arena, which hosted the 2012 World Indoor Championships in athletics and the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Together, that track record reinforces the idea of a Games built on infrastructure already tested in major international events.