The European Athletics Council agreed on a number of important resolutions, including the awarding of the 2016 Convention and SPAR European Cross Country Championships at its 140th meeting at the Chí¢teau de Montvillargenne in Chantilly, France, over the weekend.
It was decided that the 2016 European Athletics Convention would be held in Funchal, the largest city of the Madeira region in Portugal. Before that, the 2015 Convention takes place at the home of European Athletics in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The 2016 SPAR European Cross Country Championships were allocated to Chia, Italy, subject to European Athletics receiving a guarantee for television production of the event by the end of January 2015.
Chia, a coastal area in Southern Sardinia, made an impressive presentation on Saturday morning. The Italian athletics federation would use these championships to further develop their new training facilities based in Chia.
Following a proposal by the French Athletics Federation, the 2015 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be relocated to Toulon-Hyères subject to all conditions of the organisation being met. A logistical and technical evaluation of the site will be carried out by a European Athletics delegation on 18 November.
The Council also approved the proposal for Mersin, Türkiye, to host the European Champion Clubs Cup Senior Group A for the next three years, as long as the quality standards for this event are upheld. The Junior Group A event will also be held in Türkiye in 2015 as Istanbul will stage the competition.
Czech Athletics Federation President Libor Varhanik gave a well-received report on the Prague 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships, which will take place from 6-8 March.