The European Championships is a totally new concept comprising athletics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and triathlon brought together under the same umbrella.

A total of 4,500 active participants are expected to take part in 2018 with Berlin hosting athletics and Glasgow the other six sports.

All the events are scheduled to be held between August 1 and 12 and it is hoped the synergy between the events will help boost the interest of the public, leading to increased television figures for each sport and increased marketing revenue.

It is planned to host the event every four years.

Gothenburg and Malmö, together with the Skåne region, have launched a pre-study involving the seven Swedish Federations responsible for the sports that would make up the Championships. 

Gothenburg and Malmö met together on Tuesday (March 1) together with representatives of the seven Swedish Federations. 

They will each produce a report on what work is required to host the Championships.

A report is due to be published in the autumn. 

Gothenburg was involved in controversy last year after Swedish officials complained publicly following the award by the International Association of Athletics Federations of its World Championships in 2021 to Eugene in the United States without a proper bid process, despite the Swedish city declaring it wanted to host the event. 

Gothenburg had previously hosted the IAAF World Championships in 1995.

It also staged the European Athletics Championships in 2006 and the 2013 European Indoor Championships. 

"Originally, Sweden and Gothenburg was interested in hosting European Athletics Championships in 2022," said Toralf Nilsson, President of the Swedish Athletics Association.

"But now that we can expect the event to comprise seven Championships we have invited all the other Federations to participate."

Gothenburg and Malmö are located more than 270 kilometres apart and it is unclear yet which sports would be staged where.  

Malmö previously hosted the 2002 European Badminton Championships and the 2013 European Eventing Championships. 

"It is such a big event and we believe that we will be stronger together with Malmö and the region Skåne and that we can also create a greater interest for the sports," Camilla Nyman, the managing director at Göteborg & Co, who are coordinating the bid, said. 

"At the meeting, all the Federations expressed a tremendous positivity to the idea and they all want to take part in the pre-study."