John Swinney hints at decision on Scotland hosting Commonwealth Games in 2026

It was the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland and saw over 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 nations descend on Glasgow to compete.

Now, a decade to the day from the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, there are hopes the event could come back to Glasgow in 2026.

Last year, the Australian state of Victoria withdrew as the host of the 2026 games because of rising costs, and earlier this year Singapore and Malaysia both ruled out taking over as hosts.

A last resort plan of holding a scaled-down version in Glasgow has since been mooted.

Former first minister Humza Yousaf seemed keen to at least explore the idea - he said “sensible ideas” had been suggested to him, but wouldn’t go as far as committing to any of them.

However his successor John Swinney may have poured some cold water on the prospect of the games coming back to Scotland.

Speaking to The Scotsman, the First Minister said: “We had a tremendously successful Commonwealth Games in 2014 - it was a celebration of sport within Scotland.

SNP First Minister John Swinney. Image: Andy Buchanan/Getty Images.

“However it was planned over a number of years.

“We’ve got to look carefully at the propositions that have been put to us about the possibility of hosting another Commonwealth Games.

“Obviously time would not be on our side to prepare for that, but we’ll be engaging constructively on that.”

He added “theoretically the window is still open” to Scotland hosting the games, but said the time constraints were “very, very limited”.

The First Minister added: “We have six years of preparatory time in relation to 2014.

“While I am as enthusiastic as the next person about sporting events and the significant benefit they can bring to the country, we’ve got to ensure they can be done properly.”

Tuesday marks 10 years since the opening of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Some of the biggest names in sport competed, including Usain Bolt, Chad le Clos, Tom Daley and Adam Peaty, drawing in more than 600,000 spectators from around the world.