Candidate Cities

In September 2011, six candidate cities were put forward by their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to apply to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020. Those cities are: Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; Madrid, Spain; Rome, Italy and Tokyo, Japan.

The six applicant cities will now proceed to Phase 1 of the two-step application procedure, which will lead to the election of the 2020 host city in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 September 2013.

Phase 1

Known as the candidature acceptance procedure, focuses on a technical review and the cities’ ability to host the Games 2020. Cities are required to answer a questionnaire, and their answers are studied by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). At the end of this first phase, the IOC Executive Board selects the cities that will become candidate cities and therefore move on to Phase 2.

Phase 2

Known as the candidature procedure, concentrates on Games operational matters. Candidate cities will be requested to submit their Candidature File – an in-depth description of their Games project – and will be subject to a technical assessment made by a visiting team – the IOC Evaluation Commission. The IOC Evaluation Commission’s appraisal will be published in a report and sent to the IOC members no later than one month before they cast their votes on 7 September 2013 and in time for the 2020 briefing for IOC members.

Key dates