2026 Asian Games

Bidding process

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) welcomed the joint proposal from Aichi Prefecture and its capital Nagoya to host the Games at their annual general assembly session in Da Nang, Vietnam, on 25 September 2016. The joint bid proposal almost did not happen due to financial differences between the two interested parties; these were resolved in 2015 and 2016, allowing the joint bid to be accepted. The OCA originally planned to choose the 2026 host city in 2018, but brought the planning date forward due to the intensity of the region's sporting calendar, including the next two Winter Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups between 2018 and 2022 (held in Pyeongchang and Beijing, as well in Russia and Qatar) and the next Summer Olympic Games (held in Tokyo in 2020).

Development and preparations

Costs

The city of Nagoya received an estimate of roughly ¥85 billion ($560 million) in costs from the Aichi Prefecture government for the Games, 30% of which is expected to be covered by sponsorships and other revenue, while the remainder is planned to be split on a 70–30 basis between Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture. In February 2023, the cost was reported to have ballooned to ¥140.5 billion ($927 million).

Athletes Village

The Aichi–Nagoya Organising Committee originally intended to construct an athletes village on the former site of Nagoya Racecourse in the Minato-ku ward of Nagoya, but decided not to due to high construction material costs. Instead, it chose to have several athletes villages spread across the prefecture. Around 4,000 to 5,000 athletes will be hosted in the Costa Serena cruise ship docked at Kinjo Pier. 2,000 athletes will be hosted in temporary wooden villas styled after shipping containers at the Port of Nagoya Garden Wharf, which will be reused as disaster response units and tourist lodging after the Games. The rest of the athletes will be housed in several hotels across the prefecture and outlying cities.

Because the Games will take place towards the end of the pacific typhoon season, organisers have put in place several contingency plans if athletes were to be evacuated from the cruise ship due to tsunamis, typhoons or other natural disasters.

Venues

In addition to Nagoya, events will be spread across cities across Aichi Prefecture, and some venues in the Greater Tokyo Area that also hosted events during the 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as Gifu, Osaka, and Shizuoka prefectures. Cycling events are scheduled to be held at the Izu Velodrome in Izu, Shizuoka. Some aquatic events were originally scheduled to be held at the Rainbow Pool, but with less than three years to go, OCA pointed out that the facilities did not meet World Aquatics' regulations. After discussions, it was decided to move the swimming events to the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, and the equestrian events to the Tokyo Equestrian Park; water polo was also moved to the Nippon Gaishi Hall's Rainbow Pool.

Hisaya Ōdori Park will host a fan zone, celebration and cultural exchange hub during both Asian and Asian Para Games, known as One Asia World. It was inspired by the Champions Park used during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Torch relay

The torch relay began on 18 August with a flame-lighting event in front of the 1958 Asian Games and 1964 Summer Olympics legacy cauldron near the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. Another flame-lighting event was held on 20 August at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, host of the 1994 Games. The main relay started from 22 August, and will run to 18 September. Both flames were united through the use of a concave mirror, and the relay started at Nagoya Castle, which will pass across 40 municipalities of Aichi Prefecture and all 16 wards of Nagoya. 1,000 torchbearers are expected to partake. The torch design, as well as the relay routes were unveiled on 11 June, 100 days until the opening ceremony. There will also be a torch relay for school children held from 7 to 15 September involving 14 schools.

The Games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony will be held on 19 September 2026 at 18:00 to 20:00 JST (UTC+09:00) at Paloma Mizuho Stadium. Its theme is "Harmonic Heart Beat", and Japanese filmmaker Yukihiko Tsutsumi was appointed as the creative director of the ceremonies.

Participating Nations

All 45 National Olympic Committees who are members of the Olympic Council of Asia are expected to send delegations. A refugee team will partake for the first time in the Asian Games.

Sports

The 2026 Asian Games is expected to include 469 medal events in 43 sports, a decrease of 12 events over Hangzhou 2022; Freestyle BMX, mixed martial arts, padel, surfing, teqball and virtual taekwondo will make their Asian Games debut.

A final decision on the inclusion of cricket was scheduled for 2025, with the Asian Cricket Council having pushed for the bid and then OCA President Randhir Singh was "hopeful" for it. Its inclusion would act as the Asian qualifiers event for the 2028 Summer Olympics. On 28 April, the organising committee approved the inclusion of cricket and mixed martial arts to the programme, following a request from OCA. In addition, open water swimming was removed from the programme. In December 2025, OCA approved the inclusion of padel and teqball to the programme, with all cost covered by respective international federations of the sport. Later in June 2026, the OCA approved the inclusion of virtual taekwondo to the programme, making the first-ever virtual sport event.

Five regional sports that were nominated by each region of the Olympic Council of Asia:

Wushu (East Asia)

Sepak takraw (Southeast Asia)

Kabaddi (South Asia)

Kurash (Central Asia)

Jujitsu (West Asia)

Three sports that were part of the 2024 Summer Olympics and are not part of the core Asian Games program:

Breaking

Skateboarding

Surfing

Three sports and disciplines proposed by the organising committee:

Baseball/Softball

Karate

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony will be held on 4 October 2026 at 18:00 to 19:30 JST (UTC+09:00) at Paloma Mizuho Stadium. It will include a cultural presentation, closing remarks, and the formal handover to Doha, Qatar, as hosts of next edition in 2030.

Calendar

Source:

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem of the Games was unveiled during a ceremony on 1 April 2020. Each colour has its own meaning, with purple representing the iris laevigata, gold for shachihoko, the golden tiger-fish roof ornaments which are the symbol of Nagoya Castle, and green representing environmental consciousness.

Mascot

The mascot of the Games, Honohon (Japanese: ホノホン) was unveiled on 14 July 2024. Its design is based on the shachihoko.

Motto

The official motto of the 2026 Asian Games, "Imagine One Asia" was announced on 1 April 2020 to mark six years before the opening ceremony.

Corporate sponsorship

Companies listed in italics have not had their partnership agreement signed.

The official theme song of the Games, "Beyond the Sky", peformed by INI, was released on 5 August 2026. It was created as a fight song for all athletes.

Broadcasting

Concerns and controversies

Exceeded athlete and official quota

The organising committee originally planned 15,000 athletes and officials to enter the Games. Due to an increased number of added events, the number has been reportedly exceeded by upwards of 2,000. The governor of Aichi Prefecture, Hideaki Ōmura, stated that arrangements and budgets based on the host city's contract would not be able to accommodate more than 15,000. Organisers had asked the OCA to keep athlete and officials numbers below the original limit.

On 19 August 2026, a month before the opening ceremony, the competition schedule was modified in line with reducing athlete numbers, which resulted in the cancellation and rescheduling of some events, leading to confusion from athletes and sports organisations, and already purchased tickets by spectators being voided.

On 28 August 2026, AINAGOC and the OCA jointly released a statement to clear up the "incorrect media reports", stating that the number of athletes and officials was changing on a daily basis, and the final number has not been determined. All athletes and officials that had registered by the July deadline will be provided with Games-appropriate accommodation. In addition, it was decided that some officials would be allowed to arrange their own accommodation through their respective NOC.

Cricket facilities

At the end of August 2026, representatives of several members of the Asian Cricket Council raised concerns over the cricket venue; Kōrogi Sports Park in Nisshin. Most complained about the lack of proper dressing rooms, and the pitch not being readied for competition.

Weather conditions

Record-breaking torrential rain hit Nagoya on 8 September 2026, 2 days before the start of competitions, causing widespread flash flooding. Several hundred athletes housed in temporary structures in the port area of the city were told to evacuate by officials. While leaking roofs were observed at some venues, no major damage was reported. Nagoya city mayor Ichiro ‌Hirosawa ruled out any major disruption to the Games as a result of the floods, however a promotional warmup event featuring members of the SKE48 idol group was cancelled due to the inclement weather.