With one year to go until the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, organisers have today announced that the main public ticket ballot will run from 8 to 30 September this year.

Anyone wanting to apply for tickets and be part of the largest sporting and cultural event to take place in the UK in a decade, should go to birmingham2022.com and register for a ticket account to receive all the latest information about the ballot.

Tickets for the Games start at £8 for children and £15 for adults. In total there will be over one million tickets priced £22 and below, to ensure that the Birmingham 2022 can be the ‘Games for Everyone’.

To mark 365 days until the Birmingham 2022 Opening Ceremony, 300 drones lit up the skies above Birmingham city centre in the early hours of 28 July, performing a spectacular six-minute light show.

With organisers keen to use the Games to spark greater levels of interest in playing sport, Birmingham 2022 has partnered with the national governing bodies of 12 Commonwealth Sports, including the England and Wales Cricket Board, Basketball England, British Wheelchair Basketball, England Squash, British Weightlifting, England Judo, and Table Tennis England, to host an experiential event at Centenary Square in the heart of Birmingham city centre. The event is open to the public and will provide people of all ages with the chance to try their hand at many of the sports that will feature in the Games, from table tennis and basketball to squash and boxing.

Birmingham 2022 will include the largest sports programme in Commonwealth Games history, with 14 venues hosting sport including the brand-new Aquatics Centre in Sandwell, Edgbaston Stadium, Cannock Chase, The University of Birmingham, and the newly refurbished Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

The cycling events will take place in London at the Lee Valley VeloPark, the scene of many fantastic nights of sporting action during the 2012 Olympics and for the first time in Commonwealth Games history there will be more women’s medals than men’s on offer.

Birmingham 2022 will feature a six-month cultural festival that will take place at venues across the West Midlands, in the months leading up to, and during, the Games, with further details set to be announced later in the year. Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport and Tourism, said:

“Today is an important milestone on the road to Birmingham 2022. As we mark 365 days to go, excitement is really beginning to build to the biggest sporting and cultural event ever held in the West Midlands.

“Over one million tickets will be priced at £22 and under, meaning more fans can watch the Commonwealth’s best athletes compete here in the UK. With just one year until the opening ceremony, we remain on track to deliver a spectacular Games that the city, region and country can be proud of." 

Commonwealth Games Federation President, Dame Louise Martin DBE, added:

“One year to go to Birmingham 2022 is a special milestone. It means that we are now approaching the home straight in our preparations for the Commonwealth Games and we are on track to stage a fantastic event.

“For athletes and fans, Birmingham 2022 will be a once in a lifetime experience that showcases the very best of Commonwealth Sport.

“With ticketing and volunteering opportunities for the Games now open, I would urge everyone to get involved and be part of this world class sporting and cultural event.”