Baku ready to host major sporting events - French newspaper

Having successfully organized the first European Games, Baku proved that it is ready to conduct even bigger sporting events, said the article posted on the website of the French newspaper La Depeche.

“The organization of the European Games was great,” the article said. “Baku demonstrated tremendous skill, having built the National Olympic Stadium with a capacity of more than 66,000 viewers in just two and a half years.”

The article said that in the coming years, Azerbaijan will hold a number of sporting events, in particular one of the stages of Formula 1 in 2016, the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017, a few matches of the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship.

The European Games kicked off in Baku June 12 and wrapped up on June 28. Baku 2015 First European Games hosted 20 sports – 16 Olympic and four non-Olympic sports.

More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe came to Baku to represent their nations over 17 days of competition. Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.

/By Trend/