What are the Commonwealth Games?

The Commonwealth Games are a major international multi-sport event held every four years involving countries that are part of the Commonwealth.

The 2026 Games - taking place between 23 July and 2 August - are being held in Glasgow, Scotland and are the 23rd edition of a competition that first started in 1930 as the British Empire Games.

In the 21st century, Birmingham, the Gold Coast, Glasgow, Delhi, Melbourne and Manchester have served as host cities.

It is expected that 74 different nations will have teams in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Unlike events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, countries that are part of Great Britain compete separately. That means that England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are pitted against each other rather than grouped together.

The Commonwealth Games is effectively a scaled-down version of the Olympics and Paralympics but all competing nations tend to have historical ties to the British Empire.

Like the Olympics and Paralympics, the Commonwealth Games are also held every four years - in between each Olympic and Paralympic cycle.

Part of the Commonwealth Games' legacy is being the first multi-sport event to fully integrate Para events.

A total of 10 different sports will be played at the 2026 Commonwealth Games - a significant drop from the 17 sports represented the last time Glasgow held the event in 2014.

While hockey and all racquet sports were among those to be dropped, the likes of athletics, swimming, track cycling, netball, boxing and judo all made the final list.

There are also Para events in athletics, swimming, track cycling, powerlifting and bowls.

Full list of sports at the 2026 Commonwealth Games

All 74 members of the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) are set to compete in this year's Games in Glasgow.

Those are made up of 55 sovereign states, nine British Overseas Territories, the four United Kingdom home nations, three Crown Dependencies, two associated states of the Realm of New Zealand and one external territory of Australia.

Nine other nations have previously been members of the CGA, but have since either merged with other nations or withdrawn from the CGA. They are Aden, Hong Kong, Ireland, Irish Free State, Newfoundland, North Borneo, Sarawak, South Arabia, Zimbabwe.

Unlike the rest of the nations competing, 2026 Commonwealth Games debutants Gabon and Togo do not have historical links with the Commonwealth.

Both nations only joined the Commonwealth in 2022.

Full list of nations competing in the 2026 Commonwealth Games

Most Commonwealth Games medals

Commonwealth Games nations to have never won a medal

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.