Preparations for the 2027 Games begin

It may still be 650 days away but the Guernsey Island Games Association has begun preparing for the 21st Island Games in 2 years time.

The Faroe Islands will host the games from the 3-9 July 2027. You can follow along with their progress in planning on their website.

Did you know that 18 islands make up the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic? They're between Iceland, Norway, and Scotland. Most of those islands are inhabited and connected by roads, bridges, and amazing subsea tunnels.

Tórshavn is the capital and is home to both the government and the parliament and where a lot of the sports will be hosted. There's a population of around 54,000 and while the native language is Faroese, a lot of the islanders also speak Danish and English.

The following sports will be hosted at the 2027 Island Games:

Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cycling, Football, Gymnastics, Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball and Beach Volleyball

The Guernsey Island Games Association is aware of concerns in some areas of our community about the Faroe Islands being the hosts for 2027. GIGA exists to facilitate the travel to, and participation in, the island games for our member sports.

Political pressure from around the world has not, so far, influenced the traditional actions of the Faroese. We do not believe our non-attendance would do anything other than disadvantage our athletes. We also firmly believe politics and sport should be kept separate.

All IIGA member islands agreed when the Faroe Islands stepped in to host, after the withdrawal of Ynys Mon. 

So far our 14 sports are indicating that they wish to compete, therefore Guernsey will send a team to the 2027 games.

However, we will fully support the individual decisions of any of our athletes who would choose not to go.