Munich Olympics bid

Fifty-odd years after 1972, Munich wants the Summer Games back. Germany has picked it as the country’s candidate, and the old Olympic Park is ready and waiting.

MUNICH OLYMPICS: On Saturday 26 September 2026 the German Olympic Sports Confederation (the DOSB) met in Baden-Baden and chose Munich as Germany’s candidate to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2036, 2040 or 2044. Munich beat the Cologne/Rhine-Ruhr region in the final vote. Hamburg had pulled out in May, and Berlin dropped out just two days before the decision.

READY AND WAITING: The 1972 Olympic Park, with Frei Otto and Günter Behnisch’s tent roof and the Olympic Tower. Picture: Stu Anderson

Munich said yes

This isn’t a city being dragged into it. In a referendum in late 2025, 66.4 per cent of Munich voters backed a bid, on a turnout of 44 per cent. That matters, because Munich has been here before. A bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics died in 2013 when voters in Munich and the mountain areas around it said no.

What happens next

Don’t book a hotel just yet. The International Olympic Committee works slowly.
• Now: the DOSB opens talks with the IOC.
• March 2027: the IOC’s shortlisting process.
• Late 2028: the IOC is expected to name one or more preferred hosts.
• Mid-2029: the final pick.
And remember, the bid covers three possible Games, so even if Munich gets the nod it could be 2044 before the athletes march in.

STILL A LOOKER: The stadium’s acrylic roof over the Olympiasee. Picture: Stu Anderson

The 1972 Games

Munich’s first Olympics were meant to show off a new, cheerful, democratic West Germany, just 27 years after the war, and they came to be called "the cheerful Games". Then on 5 September 1972 Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli team’s quarters in the Olympic Village. Eleven members of the Israeli team were killed, along with a West German police officer. I’ve written about it on my Munich massacre 1972 page.

Any new Munich Games would have that history hanging over them, and the city knows it. The memorial in the Olympic Park, the Einschnitt ("incision"), opened in 2017 and is a sobering place to stop if you visit.

The happier legacy is the park itself. The tent roof, the lake, the hill built from wartime rubble and the TV tower have become one of Munich’s favourite places to hang out, and you can read all about it on my Olympic Park page. For a bit of 1970s design joy, see my 1972 Munich Olympics posters.

GOLDEN HOUR: The Olympiasee and the tower on a summer evening, from the Olympiaberg. Picture: Stu Anderson

If you’re visiting now

The park is getting a makeover ahead of all this, so a few bits are shut:
• The Olympic Tower (Olympiaturm) is closed for renovation until about spring 2027.
• The Olympiastadion is closed until early summer 2028.
• Work on the famous tent roof started in September 2026 and is due to finish in 2029.
The grounds, the lake and the Olympiaberg hill are open as normal, and the views from the top of the hill are free.
Checked October 2026. I’ll update this page as the bid moves along.

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