2027 World Wrestling Championships to be held in Las Vegas and serve as first qualifier for 2028 Olympics

The 2027 World Wrestling Championships will be held in Las Vegas, United States. United World Wrestling and USA Wrestling have officially announced that the main senior tournament of the year will take place from September 11 to 19, 2027, at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The arena has a capacity of around 20,000 spectators.

The Olympic status of the tournament gives this championship special importance. The first direct wrestling quotas for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be awarded at the 2027 World Championships.

According to UWW, 72 medalists across 18 Olympic weight categories will secure quota places for their National Olympic Committees. As a result, for many national teams around the world, the tournament in Las Vegas will become the first key step on the road to the 2028 Games.

For the United States, this will mark the return of the World Wrestling Championships after a 12-year break. The country last hosted UWW’s main event in 2015. USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender noted that Las Vegas should create a strong atmosphere for athletes and fans, while the tournament itself will be an important part of the build-up to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Earlier, UWW had already presented the overall qualification system for the 2028 Olympic Games. In addition to the World Championships, quotas will be distributed through continental Olympic qualification tournaments, the UWW ranking system and the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

UWW has also announced the calendar for the 2027 World Championships in other age categories. The U17 World Championships will be held in Amman from August 2 to 8, the U20 tournament will take place in Novi Sad from August 23 to 29, the Veterans World Championships will be held in Poreč from October 5 to 10, and the U23 World Championships will take place in Brașov from October 18 to 24.

At the same time, the situation surrounding the 2026 World Championships remains uncertain. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Bahrain, but the host location is expected to be changed. UWW is expected to announce official details on this matter separately.

For Armenian wrestling, the 2027 World Championships will be especially important: it is there that the Armenian national team will be able to begin its fight for the first Olympic licenses for the Games in Los Angeles.