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2023 World Surfing Games

El Salvador to Host the 2023 World Surfing Games

The International Surfing Association announces they’ll be returning to El Salvador for the 2023 World Surfing Games. This news represents a success story for El Salvador’s Surf City initiative.

Seems like the last competition went well, then. It must have done, because yesterday afternoon the International Surfing Association (ISA) announced that El Salvador would be doing it all again in 2023.

Yep, that’s right. El Salvador will host the 2023 World Surfing Games to decide qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

El Salvador will become the first country in Central America to host the World Surfing Games twice. Other Central Americans hosts include Panama in 2013, Nicaragua in 2015, and Costa Rica in 2016.

The 2019 ISA World SUP and Paddle Board Championships also took place in El Salvador.

The announcement comes on the back of the recent ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador. These games, postponed from 2020 because of the pandemic, took place in El Sunzal and La Bocana.

They decided the last 12 spots for Tokyo 2020 in July, when surfing will debut as a Olympic sport.

El Salvador has provided us with the perfect venue to run this global event. The waves did not stop all week, allowing the world’s best National Surfing Teams to put their surfing on display,” said ISA president Fernando Aguerre at the closing ceremony on June 6.

Those non-stop waves must have paid off for the ISA to return again in 2023 for another World Surfing Games.

On top of the 2023 World Surfing Games, El Salvador will also host the Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in 2022. This competition will take place in El Sunzal/La Bocana.

As part of the Surf City initiative, we are honored to host the Games again and continue to show the world what our beautiful country has to offer,” said El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

The ISA will announce exact dates and more details of the two upcoming events at a later date.


James Dyde is the editor of centralamerica.com. He lives in Escazu, Costa Rica.

James Dyde

James Dyde

James Dyde is a British immigrant to Costa Rica and the editor of this website. He has lived in Central America since 2000 and retains a deep love for the region. He lives in Escazu, Costa Rica.