Munich 2025: 60%+ Residents Back City Bid

The people of Munich voted on Sunday for their city’s candidacy to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044, with a very clear victory for «oui» around 66%, following a citizen consultation. “Munich has voted. Munich has spoken and Munich has clearly voted “Yes”. We are well above 60%”announced Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter early Sunday evening when the first results were announced.

Of all the ballots counted, the «oui» is in the majority at 66.4%, easily reaching the necessary quorum of 10% of registered voters. The turnout was 42%, the highest for a citizens’ consultation in Munich.

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The German Olympic Committee (DOSB) has embarked on the adventure of a candidacy for the country for the Summer Olympic Games, either for 2036, or for 2040, or for 2044. Three cities — Munich, Hamburg and Berlin — and one region — Rhine-Ruhr — have expressed interest and are in a first internal German race. The municipality of Munich was the first to give its population a voice on this project. A little over a million voters (1.1) were called on Sunday to vote by «oui» or «non»with the possibility of voting in advance by mail (33.7% of voters), common in Germany.

German choice in fall 2026

Residents of the cities of the Rhine-Ruhr project must decide on April 19, 2026, as do those of Kiel, which is applying for the sailing events of a German candidacy. Hamburg plans to consult its population on May 31, 2026, while the constitution of the Berlin region does not provide for a referendum on the question of an Olympic candidacy.

The DOSB will meet in September 2026 in a general assembly to choose its candidacy, before submitting its selected project to the International Olympic Committee. “I think it will make an impression at DOSB”rejoiced the President of Bavaria Markus Söder. IOC President Kirsty Coventry has launched a working group on the calendar and the selection process for the next editions of the Olympic Games starting in 2036. After the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Los Angeles will host the Summer Games in 2028, then Brisbane (Australia) in 2032.

The second German city to host the Summer Olympics in 1972 (after Berlin in 1936), Munich saw its candidacy for the 2022 Winter Games come up against a referendum obstacle in November 2013. The DOSB had chosen Hamburg to defend Germany’s chances for the 2024 Olympics, before the population of the Hanseatic city voted against in November 2015.

The Bavarian capital hosted the European Multisport Championships in the summer of 2022 with real popular success and is therefore continuing its path towards an Olympic candidacy. The Munich file is based in part on the infrastructure of 1972.