León ready for the opening of the American Week of Sport 2026

León is ready. From 17 to 20 September, the city of Guanajuato — which this year celebrates its 450th anniversary under the motto “León 450, leaving a mark on history” — becomes the epicentre of continental sport as the official host of the launch of the American Week of Sport 2026, the great civic-participation campaign that ACES América drives together with cities across the continent.

The setting is the León 450 International Sport Forum, a gathering that brings together authorities, international organisations and sport leaders to reflect on the role of sport in the life of cities. The opening day begins with the official presentation press conference, led by the mayor of León, Alejandra Gutiérrez; the director general of the Guanajuato Sport Institute, Yendi Cortinas, and the director general of COMUDE León, Isaac Piña, alongside representatives of the OAS, UNESCO, the Ibero-American Union of Municipalists (UIM) and the Parapan American Committee.

The programme combines high-level institutional debate and sporting testimony. Speakers include the two-time Olympic diving medallist Germán Sánchez; the Paralympic swimming medallist Ángel de Jesús Camacho; the president of the Parapan American Committee, Julio César Ávila, and representatives of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The panels “The Legacy of Public Sport Policies in Cities” and “The Future of Sport in the Americas and Worldwide” — moderated by the ACES América team, with its president, Adriana Sánchez, and its general coordinator, Gonzalo Cuesta — will share the experience of cities such as León, Zapopan and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The forum will also be the stage for several recognitions: the city of León will receive its distinction as a Legacy American Capital of Sport; Valle del Cauca — which set the participation record of the previous edition — and Pereira will be honoured for their outstanding involvement in the American Week of Sport, and Zapopan will be proclaimed American Capital of Sport 2027. The agenda will close with activities open to all citizens — a 5K recreational run and the León 450 Marathon — true to the spirit of a campaign that takes sport to the streets.

With this launch, the American Week of Sport 2026 gathers momentum from one of the network’s most active cities, following a previous edition that surpassed eight million participants across the continent. The goal, once again, is the same: to make sport an engine of health, inclusion and community in every city of the Americas.

Activa América.