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Barcelona (AFP) – The next edition of the America’s Cup will take place in September and October 2024 in Barcelona (northeastern Spain), the organizers of the prestigious sailing event announced on Tuesday.
The decision to organize the next edition in Spain marks a new break with the tradition of the competition which wants the next edition to take place in the country of the defending champion, which is currently New Zealand.
The Swiss from Alinghi and the Americans from Oracle had already organized the event respectively in Spain in Valencia in 2007 and 2011, and in Bermuda in 2017.
Team New Zealand (TNZ) retained its Auckland title in March 2021 by beating Italian challenger Luna Rossa 7-3.
“Holding the event in a major city like Barcelona will allow us to reinforce the event’s growth trajectory on the global sports scene,” TNZ CEO Grant Dalton said in the organizers’ statement.
The other three candidates for the 2024 edition were Cork in Ireland, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Malaga in Spain.
Despite its name, TNZ is a private organization and was under no obligation to stage its title defense in New Zealand.
The organizers had announced in September the postponement of their decision on the place of the next edition, saying they needed more time to choose between Auckland or a foreign city due to the confinement of the New Zealand city, then faced with the Delta variant. of Covid-19.
The New Zealand government had made an offer of 61 million euros to keep the competition in the city, an offer that TNZ had deemed insufficient.
© 2022 AFP