Victoria's 2026 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony will be held at GMHBA Stadium.
In case you missed the good news, a global audience of one billion will watch Geelong farewell the 2026 Victoria Commonwealth Games in style when Kardinia Park hosts the Closing Ceremony.
After 12 jam-packed days of sport in regional Victoria, athletes, officials, volunteers and fans will descend on Geelong for a fitting send-off to Victoria 2026 on Sunday, March 29, while the opening ceremony will be held at the MCG.
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Kardinia Park is Australia’s premier regional stadium and is undergoing stage five of an extensive redevelopment that will boost its capacity to more than 40,000 upon completion in mid-2023.
Geelong will also be home to a program of live sites including music, performance and art, showcasing some of its iconic locations such as the spectacular waterfront and the Arts Precinct during the Games. Victoria 2026 will be held from 17-29 March 2026.
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The sport program for the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games has also been locked in with the initial program of 16 sports boosted to 20, including nine fully integrated Para sports.
BMX Racing, Golf, 3×3 Basketball, 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball, Coastal Rowing, Shooting, Shooting Para Sport, Mountain Bike, Track Cycling and Para Cycling Track are the new sports and disciplines that have been added to the final sport program.
Coastal Rowing, Golf and BMX Racing will make their Commonwealth Games debut in 2026 while the popular 3×3 Basketball, 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball and T20 Cricket will be making their second appearance after featuring at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games this year.
Ballarat, the birthplace of long-distance runner and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Steve Moneghetti, has been confirmed as the host of the Marathon.
An upgraded Eureka Stadium will host Athletics and Para Athletics, with Boxing rounding out Ballarat’s action-packed program. Mountain Bike cross country will be staged along some of the 60-kilometres of trails around Creswick.
The Commonwealth Games are coming to Geelong’s stunning Surf Coast when Torquay hosts Coastal Rowing, while Golf will tee off on the Bellarine Peninsula, showcasing more of Victoria to the world in 2026.
The Geelong program also includes Aquatics (swimming and diving), Para Swimming, Beach Volleyball, T20 Cricket, Artistic Gymnastics, Hockey, Triathlon, Para Triathlon, Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting.
Five sports will be staged in Gippsland, with Shooting and Para Shooting bolstering the existing schedule of T20 Cricket, Badminton, Rugby Sevens and Road Cycling. The Cycling Road Race will finish with a criterium where the Commonwealth’s best cyclists will chase gold in Traralgon.
T20 Cricket is part of a strong women’s sports program and will see the reigning world champion Australian team look to defend the gold medal it won at this year’s Commonwealth Games.
Shepparton will be home to multiple cycling events – staging both men’s and women’s road race time trials, as well as hosting the high-octane cycling discipline of BMX Racing.
Track Cycling is one of the jewels in the Commonwealth Games’ sporting crown and, along with Para Cycling Track, will be one of six sports staged in Bendigo.
Australia won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal in 3×3 Basketball and 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and will be looking to add to that haul when the sports come to the Goldfields City in 2026.
St Arnaud-born Aaron Wilson will be chasing his third consecutive gold medal when the Bendigo Bowls club plays host to the world’s best lawn bowlers and Para Lawn bowlers and the Diamonds will look to defend the netball gold medal at Bendigo Stadium.
Table Tennis, Para Table Tennis and Squash round out Bendigo’s sporting program.
Keep up with the latest from the Commonwealth Games here.
