The European Athletics Council awarded the 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships to the Dutch city of Apeldoorn on Friday (6).
The 164th European Athletics Council Meeting is taking place in Munich, the host city of the 2022 European Athletics Championships, until Sunday.
Speaking after the event was officially allocated, European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov said: “European Athletics have had a long and very successful relationship with Dutch athletics which goes back to the foundation of this organisation in 1970 – after all, our first President Adriaan Paulen was Dutch – and I am very pleased to say that it will continue with the staging of this event.
“The overall presentation by everyone who was invested in this bid was outstanding, and we were hugely impressed by the enthusiasm and professionalism of the bid team led by the Royal Dutch Athletics Federation as well as the excellent facilities that will be available at the Omnisport Apeldoorn.
“This will be the third time European Athletics have been to the Netherlands in a decade for one of its major events, following on from the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships and 2018 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Tilburg, and there could scarcely be a better place to stage this event,” added Karamarinov.
Provisionally, the championships are scheduled for 13-16 March 2025. It will be the third time that the Netherlands will have staged the continent’s top indoor competition, following on from Rotterdam in 1972 and The Hague in 1989.
"We are very pleased and proud that we can welcome the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2025. It will undoubtedly be a tough job but we have the ambition to realise an event that is surprising and spectacular for athletes, spectators and the media, and with which we will really make a difference to the sport,”, said Royal Dutch Athletics Federation General Director Pieke de Zwart.
The 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships will take place in Istanbul, Türkiye from 2-5 March.
The hosts for the 2023 SPAR European Cross Country Championships were also decided on Friday and they will be staged in Brussels, Belgium.The Belgian capital also staged the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and 2004 World Cross Country Championships.
“Brussels provided an excellent bid which focussed on their event’s sustainable qualities. This is a priority for the foreseeable future for European Athletics,” commented European Athletics CEO Christian Milz.
“In addition, I am confident from our previous experience of having European Athletics events in Belgium, and the enthusiasm there is there for our athletics and its rich history, that both this championship will be well organised and further help the growth of our sport in Europe,” added Milz.