The World Friendship Games (Russian: Всемирные игры дружбы, Vsemirnye igry druzhby) was a planned international multi-sport event, was expected to be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Russia from 15 to 29 September 2024.

[6] In May 2023, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin confirmed Russia will host the second edition of Friendship Games in 2024, shortly after the Summer Olympics in Paris.

[18] Russian deputy permanent representative at the UN Maria Zabolotskaya [ru] spoke about the inadmissibility of any discrimination against athletes at competitions and invited the world to the Friendship Games.

[19][20] In March 2024, IOC president Thomas Bach urged a boycott of Russia's planned 'Friendship Games' and labelled the event a "cynical attempt" by the country to "politicize sport":[21] this caused the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, to launch a personal attack on Bach, accusing him and the IOC of "slipping into racism and neo-Nazism".

[28] According to Infobae on 28 March 2024, Alexey Sorokin (the director general of the World Friendship Games Organizing Committee) claimed that athletes from "at least" 70 nations might participate.

[29] On 22 April 2024, HuffPost noted Russian media claims that 5,500 participants would take part in the 2024 World Friendship Games, compared to the maximum quota of 10,500 in Paris.