IOL 2026 Bucharest Confirmed: 26 July – 2 August (23rd International Linguistics Olympiad)

The 23rd International Linguistics Olympiad will be held in Bucharest, Romania, from 26 July to 2 August 2026, as confirmed by the official ioling.org. It is the year’s international final, bringing together national teams from more than forty countries.

What we know so far

• Host city & dates: Bucharest, Romania · 26 July – 2 August 2026 (per ioling.org)
• Edition: the 23rd IOL, held annually since the first contest in 2003
• Format: an individual contest (six hours, five problems) and a team contest (one large multi-text problem)
• Scale: the 2025 edition in Taipei drew 227 contestants from 42 countries and territories — Bucharest is expected to be comparable

The precise day-by-day programme — which days hold the individual and team contests, the excursion, and the closing ceremony — is published by the host committee closer to the event on ioling.org. We will update this page when the official daily schedule is released, rather than guessing at it now.

How teams are selected

You do not enter the IOL directly. Each country selects its team (usually four students) through a national olympiad — NACLO in North America, UKLO in the UK, OzCLO in Australia, and 40+ others. Most national rounds run their selection between January and June. For the full pathway, see our Competition Format page and our guide to how national olympiads feed the IOL.

Preparing remotely for Bucharest 2026

If you are training from outside an established national programme — as many China-based and international-school students are — the IOL Club twelve-week study plan and weekly walkthroughs on WhatsApp are calibrated to bring you to mock-paper shape by mid-summer. We run a final timed mock graded by mentors who have themselves competed at the IOL. Everything is free, and the past problems archive needs no login.

Filed underIOL 2026 · Bucharest · Independent Guide

This site is IOL Club, an independent community guide to the International Linguistics Olympiad operated by Hanlin Education. We are not affiliated with the IOL Board or with any national linguistics olympiad. Official rules, host-city announcements, and problem packets are published at ioling.org. Our editors verify every claim against ioling.org and correct confirmed errors within 7 working days.