With the first-ever FIM Intercontinental Games (ICG) scheduled to take place in Spain at the end of the year, the teams from all six of the FIM Continental Unions (CONU) of Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America and Oceania have been announced.
A field of forty-eight competitors – comprising riders from 19 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, the USA – will assemble for the inaugural ICG at the world-famous Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto on 30 November and 1 December 2024. A biennial event which will be named after the city in which it takes place, the City of Jerez FIM Intercontinental Games will be organised with the support of la Junta de Andalucía.
The inaugural edition will be limited to Supersport and Supersport 300 classes – although this will expand to include other disciplines (Motocross and Enduro) as the event becomes established – with Yamaha Europe, as Official Partner, providing R7 and R3 machines.
Dunlop will be the official tyre supplier and will also provide its racing service throughout the competition, while BETA UTENSILI will support the FIM Continental Unions with their professional mechanical tools and toolboxes.
Riders will wear their CONU team colours with electronic airbag suits and gloves supplied by SPIDI, boots by XPD, while Airoh will provide all riders with their FIM Racing homologated GP 800 helmets and Panta Racing Fuel as the official supplier of fuel.
Each CONU will sport its own colours and field eight riders with four contesting each class. In keeping with the FIM’s ongoing commitment to diversity, each CONU will field at least one female competitor in both classes. The age of the riders will be according to the sporting rules of each discipline.
This new competition will benefit from exceptional TV coverage thanks to the support of the FIM circuit racing promoters Dorna who will carry out the TV production and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports Europe who will ensure broadcasting on their digital platforms.
The ICG is intended to provide an outstanding international platform for young riders in partnership with all FIM Promoters. In 2024, the competition will take place over four races, two per class: R7 and R3. The points awarded to each rider based on their ranking will be added to the points of the other team members to determine which of the six FIM Continental Unions will be the first to win the Games.
FIM President Jorge Viegas, who initially proposed the idea of an ICG to the FIM Board of Directors in 2002, said: “As the date for the first-ever FIM InterContinental Games draws closer the sense of anticipation is growing stronger and stronger. It is very exciting to be bringing together all six FIM Continental Unions in the FIM’s one-hundred-and-twentieth anniversary year and to have riders from across the world competing underlines a very real sense of unity. I am confident that this is just the beginning and that the ICG will continue to develop and grow.”