Patrick Hickey has a smile. The president of the Association of European Olympic Committees (EOC) assured Baku that “seven cities were interested in the European Games in 2019”. Without wanting to name them, he explained that the list included the five candidates initially not selected for the 2019 edition, plus two others. As a reminder, the second edition of the European Games was awarded last May to the Netherlands, but the Dutch sports authorities threw in the towel at the beginning of June, citing budgetary reasons. According to Patrick Hickey, the success of Baku 2015 is at the origin of this profusion of applications.
— Published June 22, 2015
