Multi-sport championships, which begin on Wednesday and involve 4,500 athletes from 52 nations, is co-hosted with Berlin

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Glasgow’s George Square will be transformed into a pedestrianised carnival precinct as it hosts the opening party for the 2018 European Championships on Wednesday evening.

The inaugural championships, bringing together for the first time existing European events for cycling, gymnastics, rowing, swimming, triathlon and athletics, will be co-hosted by Glasgow and Berlin.

The 11-day event will involve 4,500 athletes from 52 nations competing across Glasgow and beyond, including cycling time trials through the city centre and a golfing world first at Gleneagles, where men and women will compete together in a mixed team format with equal prize money.

Scotland will host 12 sports – diving, open-water swimming, swimming, synchronised swimming, road cycling, track cycling, BMX, mountain biking, golf team championships, gymnastics, rowing and triathlon – across 12 venues in partnership with the German capital, which will host the athletics.

As well as hosting Wednesday’s “Great Big Opening Party”, George Square, which will be closed on three sides throughout the sporting event, will be the main city venue for Festival 2018, the cultural programme running alongside the championships. Highlights include a headlining gig by techno duo Orbital and a collaboration between Turner Prize-winner Douglas Gordon, Scotland’s national poet Jackie Kay, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

While not on the scale of the Commonwealth Games, which Glasgow hosted in 2014, Scots have shown the same enthusiasm for volunteering as they did four years ago, when the number of applicants set a new Games record. Some 10,000 applied last November to work as 4,000 volunteer champions during the event, which runs from 2 to 12 August.

As of last weekend, 108,000 tickets had already been sold. Games organisers are expecting up to 250,000 spectators in total, but estimate that 100,000 of those will be attending unticketed, free events, which include the mountain bike finals at Cathkin Braes and the open water swimming race at Loch Lomond.

Glasgow city council has warned of serious traffic disruption around the city centre and Strathclyde country park, to the south-east of the city, where a number of key events will take place. A significant number of city centre roads will be closed between 6 and 8 August for the cycling time trials.

Pubs, clubs and restaurants across Glasgow have been given council permission to stay open for an extra hour during the championships.

According to the European Broadcasting Union, the inaugural Games could reach a potential television audience of over a billion sports fans, with many more across radio and digital platforms.

In the UK, the BBC will provide extensive daily coverage on television, radio and online of all seven sports, with more than 100 hours of network television coverage planned for the championships, which will be presented by Hazel Irvine, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan.