Ekaterinburg in Russia has been announced as the host city of the 2021 edition of the World Sport & Business Summit as the country awaits a decision on a potential ban from staging competitions over a four-year period.
The event is scheduled to take place from May 23-28, 2021 at the IEC Ekaterinburg-Expo convention centre.
Ekaterinburg hosted matches during the 2018 Fifa World Cup and also staged the 2019 Aiba World Boxing Championships. The city will also host games during the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, as well as the FISU Summer Universiade in 2023.
Raffaele Chiulli, president of SportAccord and the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), which organises the event, said: “The beautiful city of Ekaterinburg will be an ideal host for the 19th edition of SportAccord. This will allow the world of sport to come together for the third SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit in the sport loving country of Russia, facilitating unity, friendship and building joint bridges for athletes and the future development of sport.
“Ekaterinburg is a city that has sport at its heart and will provide plenty of attractions and interests to keep delegates entertained and engaged for what I’m sure will be an outstanding and memorable event. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Russian Federation for embracing SportAccord once again.”
The announcement comes after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) last week recommended a four-year hosting ban for Russia due to an “extremely serious” case of non-compliance. The agency made the details of its independent Compliance Review Committee’s (CRC’s) recommendation on the status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) public and the proposed sanctions will be considered by its executive committee at a meeting on December 9.
The event-hosting sanctions would come into effect for a four-year term at which Rusada is officially confirmed non-compliant. The sanctions include the provision that Russia may not host, bid for, or be granted in the four-year period, the right to host any major sporting events.
Russia has staged SportAccord before, with Sochi playing host in 2015 and Saint Petersburg in 2013. This year’s event was held in Gold Coast, Australia, while the 2020 edition will be staged in the Chinese capital of Beijing from April 19-24.
