Glasgow 2026: schedule, sports, venues and how to watch

The essential Glasgow 2026 facts

The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games begin on Thursday 23 July and finish on Sunday 2 August. Organisers describe 11 days on the calendar, with 10 days of competition after the opening ceremony.

More than 3,000 athletes representing 74 nations and territories are expected to contest 215 gold medals. The programme is concentrated across four existing venue hubs rather than spread through a large new precinct.

The opening ceremony is over. What matters now?

The opening ceremony was staged at the Hydro on 23 July as the first Commonwealth Games opening ceremony held inside an arena. Organisers built the production around dance, music, performance and the arrival of 74 Batons, one from every competing nation and territory.

For the remaining competition days, the live schedule matters more than ceremony coverage. Session details remain subject to change, so use the official day-by-day schedule rather than an old social-media graphic.

The official competition schedule and Seven's programme should be treated as the final word on session and broadcast times. Because Scotland is nine hours behind Tasmania in July, a Scottish evening event may appear early on the following Australian date.

The ten sports on the programme

The programme contains athletics, artistic gymnastics, 3x3 basketball, boxing, swimming, indoor bowls, judo, netball, track cycling and weightlifting. Six sports also include integrated Para competition.

Those events are Para athletics, 3x3 wheelchair basketball, Para swimming, Para bowls, Para track cycling and Para powerlifting. Glasgow 2026 lists 47 Para medal events, which organisers describe as the largest Para sport medal programme in Commonwealth Games history.

Four venue hubs carry the whole Games

Scotstoun Stadium hosts athletics and Para athletics. Tollcross International Swimming Centre carries swimming and Para swimming, while the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and Arena hosts track cycling, Para track cycling and artistic gymnastics.

The Scottish Event Campus is divided across spaces. The Armadillo hosts weightlifting and Para powerlifting, the SEC Centre hosts boxing, bowls, Para bowls, judo and both forms of 3x3 basketball, and the Hydro hosts netball.

How to find the events you actually want to watch

The official Glasgow schedule can be filtered by day, sport and session, and its overview page links to downloadable competition schedules. That is more dependable than a social-media graphic because session details can change as the Games approach.

Start with the sport rather than the athlete. Check whether the session is a preliminary round, qualification, final or medal session, then confirm the athlete or team through Commonwealth Games Australia's searchable team page. Later team-sport fixtures can depend on earlier results.

Do not assume every event falls on the same Australian calendar date shown in Glasgow. Convert the listed local time for your own state or territory and recheck it on the broadcast day.

Why the programme looks smaller than Birmingham 2022

Birmingham staged 19 sports across 15 venues in 2022. Glasgow uses 10 sports across four hubs within an eight-mile corridor. The 2026 plan was deliberately built as a more compact event using established venues and existing hotel accommodation.

That means sports seen at recent Games, including cricket, hockey, rugby sevens and badminton, are not on the Glasgow programme. Their absence is a programme decision, not evidence that the sports have stopped being part of the wider Commonwealth movement.

How Australians can watch live and free

Seven Network says it has the Australian broadcast rights, with coverage available live and free across Seven and 7plus Sport. Commonwealth Games Australia's Games hub also directs viewers to Seven and 7plus.

A television schedule, a streaming schedule and a competition schedule are not always identical. Use the official competition page to find the event, then Seven's current guide to confirm which channel or stream is carrying it in Australia.

The Australian team page can be filtered by athlete and sport. It is safer than relying on an old squad announcement because late replacements and withdrawals can change who starts.

A two-minute plan while the Games are running

Bookmark the official Glasgow schedule and the Commonwealth Games Australia hub. Choose the sports you care about, note which remaining sessions award medals and convert the Glasgow times into your local Australian time zone.

Then check Seven's guide on the day. The reliable overview is compact: opening ceremony on 23 July, competition through 2 August, 10 sports, four venue hubs and Australian coverage across Seven and 7plus Sport.

If a screenshot, repost or old article conflicts with those live pages, use the official schedule. That small check matters most during knockout rounds and when a session moves.