2026 European Athletics Championships: City bosses want funding changes

The 2026 European Athletics Championships are set to be hosted at Alexander Stadium

City bosses are seeking to change the funding schedule for the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Leaders are set to write to the government requesting that the city council's 2023/24 investment in the £13.7m event be reduced.

The following year's amount would be increased to make up the shortfall.

It comes amid fears for Birmingham's ability to host the event after the council declared effective bankruptcy in September.

The authority originally agreed to underwrite the full cost of staging the championships at the Alexander Stadium as part of a joint bid with UK Athletics and UK Sport.

The money has since been promised to the city from the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund, which was set up to distribute the £70m underspend on staging the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last summer.

The West Midlands Combined Authority agreed to write to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport during a meeting on Friday.

The changes to the funding schedule would allow the city council to investigate a joint venture agreement to deliver the championships.