France has officially submitted a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) presented its candidacy to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday (November 7).
Following plans outlined in July, the country has submitted a combined bid for the adjacent Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions of Southern France.
French officials plan to meet with the IOC Future Host Commission on November 21. The IOC will determine at a meeting from November 29 to December 1 which candidate(s) it will invite into “targeted dialogue,” or advanced talks about hosting in 2030.
David Lappartient, president of the CNOSF, said: “This file transmitted to the IOC is the fruit of real collaborative work carried out since July.
“It is the expression of our ambition, that of co-constructing the games of tomorrow, which embrace these challenges, to transform them in opportunities for sport, athletes, territories, and societies."
France has already hosted the Winter Olympics three times - in 1924, 1968, and 1992 - while its capital Paris will stage the Summer Olympics next year.
The country will face strong competition, particularly from elsewhere in Europe, to host the 2030 event.
Last month, Switzerland announced that it will declare its intention to host the games at the November 24 IOC meeting, while Sweden is also preparing a bid.
Salt Lake City in the US is another option, although the IOC is likely to prefer that the Utah city stages the 2034 edition. Canada and Japan have also declared interest.
The host or hosts of the 2030 Winter Olympics is expected to be announced by the IOC by the opening ceremony of next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris in late July.
The IOC has also discussed the potential for awarding hosting rights to the 2030 and 2034 games at the same time “to create stability for winter sports” and has said it will explore this option further.
In 2017, the IOC awarded the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics together to Paris and Los Angeles, respectively.
The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in the Milan-Cortina region of Northern Italy, with the 2022 edition having taken place in Beijing, China.
