The International Committee of Mediterranean Games in cooperation with the Organizing Committee “Taranto 2026”, announce that the final dates of the XX Mediterranean Games are as follows:

Opening Ceremony: 21 August 2026

Closing Ceremony: 3 September 2026

The change of the dates of the Games was decided mainly for climatic reasons, due to the weather conditions that prevail in this region in the summer. The best Mediterranean athletes deserve to compete in the best possible conditions and, based on precise scientific calculations and research, thus the chosen period turned out to be the best to guarantee these conditions.

Furthermore, thanks to this change, the Mediterranean Games will not coincide with other major international sporting events, notably the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ensuring that high-level athletes can participate in the biggest event of the Mediterranean basin and the National Olympic Committees can participate with high competitive level delegations and the International Federations will organize prestigious games.

Finally, the official broadcaster of the Games, the EBU, will have the opportunity to produce high quality daily television programme, to increase the live broadcast hours and ensure a biggest television audience and international visibility of the Games.

It should be noted that these dates were one of the two options proposed to the Organizing Committee during the Executive Committee meeting held in Tirana, in December 2023, and were preliminarily approved in the report of the Coordination Commission.