Birmingham begins nervous wait to find out if it will host Invictus Games in 2027

Birmingham is waiting to find out in a few months if it will host the 2027 Invictus Games.

The city has launched a £26m bid to host the multi-sport event aimed at wounded, injured or sick Armed Forces personnel and veterans.

For many wounded service personnel, Birmingham was the starting point to their recovery journey, after being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

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Veterans' Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer is leading the push to bring the Invictus Games back to the UK and to the city that helped many veterans. 

He told Forces News: "The single biggest factor, driver of recovery and powerful factor in recovery for veterans has always been sport and Invictus has been an icon in that space.

"That's why I want to bring it back to the UK, bring those two things together – have a festival of recovery, if you like."

The minister and JJ Chalmers were flown to Birmingham after being injured in Afghanistan. They were both treated at the QE hospital. 

Former Marine Commando JJ, who was wounded by an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2011, said the city and the games saved his life.

"I was in hospital in Birmingham for nine weeks to begin my recovery and it will always hold that special place in my heart.

"The idea of the Invictus Games coming here, which is an organisation and an event which, again, I owe my life to in so many ways, just as I did to the hospital in Birmingham."

He added: "There seems to be a pretty unique little synergy to bring the games here."

Colonel Victoria Moorhouse, Commanding Officer of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, told Forces News: "We see people as patients at the time that they come in to us in the hospital, but when we see them at the games, they're there as people.

"It's why we do what we do – we are returning people to the lives that they want to have and we want them to have."

It is expected the winner of the successful bid will be announced in a few months.