After the success of previous editions, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is organizing the 5th edition of the Relay around the World on April 2.
Thanks to the collective mobilization of the French diplomatic network, the Relay around the World has become a highlight of French sports diplomacy internationally. Each participating embassy or consulate is responsible for organizing a sporting event from 9am to 10am local time before passing the baton to the next time zone, so the relay will last 24 hours, from New Zealand to Los Angeles.
The Paris 2024 Games showed how sports can build bridges and bring people together, regardless of their origins, beliefs, or convictions. The Relay around the World symbolizes this desire to unite around essential values (friendship, respect, excellence for Olympic values; determination, equality, inspiration, and courage for Paralympic values).
In a fragmented world, it is more important than ever to keep alive the “spirit of the Games” and the spirit of sports, a spirit of fraternity, cohesion, and inclusion. This year again, the relay will showcase the sports actions and collaborations led around the world by the French diplomatic network and the entire “Team France”. The enthusiasm around this relay (60 participating posts) demonstrates our collective ability to mobilize our staff, expatriate communities, our network abroad, local sports ecosystems in line with the momentum generated by the Paris 2024 Games and in view of the Winter Games in the Alps 2030.
For example, our embassy in Angola will bring together students from 6 schools in Luanda for 3×3 basketball, 5-a-side football, and athletics tournaments ending with medal and certificate presentations to young participants; the embassy in Vietnam will focus on skating with the exceptional presence of Surya Bonaly; the embassy in Berlin will unite the entire German sports ecosystem and the network of French-speaking embassies for a major walk in Tiergarten; the embassy in Costa Rica will host a large public event, especially for young people, to discover petanque, zumba, rugby, balance bikes, and athletics.
The Parisian stage of the relay highlights France’s determination to host major sports events, especially the biggest cycling events, from the Tour de France to the UCI Road World Championships in Savoie in 2027. MEAE agents, the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Community Life, the Swiss Embassy (country hosting the Grand Départ of the Women’s Tour this summer), and AEFE will come together on bicycles to show their commitment to a more united world through sports.
In 2025, the relay brought together 69 embassies, consulates general, and overseas territories with over 10,000 participants! Here is the link to the video of the 2025 relay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1roFhQxMFrE
