The Basque town was initially due to host the World Championships in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the event.

Competition is now scheduled to take place from Thursday (September 16) to Sunday (September 19).

TWIF President Anton Rabe congratulated organisers for their efforts in hosting the event in a pre-competition message.

"To be able to host a World Championships in the trying and ongoing challenging times we have, and still are experiencing globally since the beginning of 2020 within the COVID-19 context, is really a fantastic achievement," Rabe said.

"On behalf of the TWIF global family I therefore wish to congratulate and salute the Basque Country Tug of War Association and the Getxo Organising Committee for their dedication and perseverance to make this happen after we were forced to postpone the event last year.

"Unfortunately, all of us cannot be in Getxo due to different circumstances which prevented some of us to travel, but we have a viable event with an adequate number of entries in most weight classes.

"Unfortunately too, is that it is especially in our youth classes that we are being under represented.

"This is our future and we will develop and support various initiatives in clusters of countries in the coming years to bridge this gap and entice our youth to progress through to senior level.

"For now, I wish to also thank all the TWIF officials who continue to dedicate their time and resources in attending in this difficult time.

"Without national and club teams we would not have had an event, but without our judges, recorders and other officials supporting the various dimension of the execution of the event, it would also not have been possible."

The World Championships will serve as a qualification event for the Birmingham 2022 World Games, which were also delayed by a year due to the pandemic.

Three weight classes will be contested at Birmingham 2022, 580-kilogram mixed, 540kg women’s and 640kg men’s.

The top six teams in each event at the World Championships will advance to the World Games.

The TWIF have called for participants to remain disciplined and observe coronavrius protocols at the event.

Competition bubbles have been created for teams and countries at the event.

Around 580 athletes from 16 countries are expected to participate at the World Championships, which will be live streamed on YouTube.