At a press conference held today at the Slaski Stadium in Silesia, European Athletics, the Polish Athletic Association and the Silesia Region signed a Letter of Intent for hosting the 2028 European Athletics Championships.
Present at the signing were European Athletics Interim President Dobromir Karamarinov, European Athletics CEO Christian Milz, Polish Athletic Association President Henryk Olszewski, the Marshal of the Silesia region Jakub Chełstowski, and Deputy Marshal of the Silesia Region Wojciech Kałuża.
The signing of the Letter of Intent follows the very positive evaluation given by the European Athletics Council to the Polish bid of Katowice-Silesia in the bidding process for the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
The 2024 European Athletics Championships was awarded to Rome, Italy on the first day of the 160th European Athletics Council Meeting on Tuesday 10 November 2020.
European Athletics President, Dobromir Karamarinov, said: “It is a big honour for me to announce today that European Athletics and the Silesia Region have agreed that the 2028 European Athletics Championships will be held here in Silesia.
"Today we are signing a Letter of Intent which is the first step on this road together. I am quite confident that we will be able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding towards the end of June and a full hosting contract by November 2023.
“As part of the road to 2028, I can also announce that the 2027 European Athletics Team Championships Super League will be held here in Silesia again. I want to congratulate everyone involved in the project, especially the Silesia Region, the Polish Athletic Association and the wider Polish athletics community for their confidence in and support of our sport.”
European Athletics CEO, Christian Milz, said: ”We have seen how dynamic and entrepreneurial this region is and the fantastic stadium you have here demonstrates the ambition of the Silesian Region and Polish athletics to establish this as the cradle of athletics in Poland.
“This announcement today is the first milestone to making the Silesian Region the centre of athletics for Poland. The road to the 2028 European Athletics Championships is still quite long but we will be back soon for the European Athletics Team Championships Super League in 2027.”