Olhão won the nomination as the host city in November 2009, seeing off a rival bid from Spain's Santa Eulària des Riu. Although this was Portugal's first time hosting a racewalking event of this size, it became another high profile athletics competition to be staged in the Algarve region, after the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, 2003 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and several editions of the European Champion Clubs Cup. The city itself has, since 2001, played host to the annual Meeting de Marcha Atlética da Cidade de Olhão racewalking meeting, which has featured on the IAAF World Race Walking Challenge series.