Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games: 103 billion CFA francs, 964,815 tickets, and seats starting at 1,000 CFA francs

The Youth Olympic Games will be held from October 31 to November 13, 2026, in Dakar, Diamniadio, and Saly. Approximately 2,700 athletes aged 15 to 17 are expected for the first Olympic event organized on the African continent, including 135 Senegalese athletes, according to L'Œil d'Afrique.

Who is paying for the Games

The organizational budget is approaching 103 billion CFA francs, according to the breakdown established by the interministerial council of October 15, 2024, chaired by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and cited by L'Œil d'Afrique. The International Olympic Committee is covering the largest share, 54 billion CFA francs. The State of Senegal is contributing 36 billion, of which 7.5 billion had already been mobilized by that date. International agencies and organizations are supplementing this with 7.5 billion, and the international baseball and wushu federations with 1.8 billion.

Commercial revenue and ticketing combined represent only 3.6 billion CFA francs, or about 3.5% of the budget. The renovation of the Olympic swimming pool and the Iba Mar Diop stadium falls under a separate budget, financed by the French Development Agency with a contribution from the State of 11.3 billion CFA francs.

Tickets at 1,000 CFA francs, and 300,000 reserved for young people

The organizers have put 964,815 tickets on sale, with prices ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 CFA francs. An event costs 1,000 CFA francs, a day pass in Saly providing access to several sites costs 1,500 CFA francs, and tickets for the opening ceremony start at 2,000 CFA francs for people with reduced mobility. Fan zones are free. To curb resale, purchases are capped at between 10 and 16 tickets per session.

More than 300,000 tickets are reserved for schools, clubs, and young people. Sales opened on August 6, 2026, to holders of Visa cards, a partner of the Olympic movement, and then to the general public on August 10. In September 2026, the Senegal Solidaire Foundation, led by First Lady Marie Khone Faye, announced 500 million CFA francs to purchase 200,000 tickets, or about 2,500 CFA francs each on average; the distribution rules had not yet been set.

A calculated gamble, questions remain

Interviewed by RFI on October 5, 2026, Minister of Sports Djireye Clotilde Coly assured that the country was ready and that the work, including the roads around the swimming pool, would be completed before the opening. She defends the expenditure as an investment in sustainable infrastructure and skills rather than immediate returns, citing 6,000 trained volunteers and more than 900,000 young people reached through school programs.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye received the renovated Olympic swimming pool and Iba Mar Diop stadium on July 25, 2026, considering the work delivered on time. Questions regarding the cost of living and unemployment have not disappeared, however, notes L'Œil d'Afrique.

On the program: rowing, triathlon, beach wrestling, sailing, and beach handball in Saly; judo, wushu, badminton, table tennis, equestrian sports, boxing, gymnastics, archery, and fencing in Diamniadio; swimming, rugby sevens, baseball5, skateboarding, athletics, 3x3 basketball, road cycling, taekwondo, and breaking in Dakar, according to the program published by Au Sénégal.