The countdown has entered its final stretch. In just 10 days, the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, will welcome South America’s biggest multi-sport event of the year: the XIII South American Games, Santa Fe 2026. From September 12 to 26, the cities of Santa Fe, Rosario and Rafaela will host more than 4,000 athletes from 15 countries competing across 43 sports and 60 disciplines — and fans across the region and around the world will be able to follow all two weeks of action live and completely free on the Panam Sports Channel.
A Historic Third Time for Argentina
Santa Fe 2026 marks the third time Argentina has hosted the South American Games, continuing a legacy that began in Rosario in 1982 and continued in Buenos Aires in 2006. Nearly two decades after the Games last touched Argentine soil, the province of Santa Fe steps into the spotlight, spreading the competition across three host cities for the first time in the event’s history — a format that reflects the scale and ambition of this edition.
The Opening Ceremony: A Celebration of Music, History and Identity
The Games will officially open on Saturday, September 12, at 6:00 p.m., with a free, open-access ceremony staged at the iconic National Flag Memorial (Monumento Nacional a la Bandera) in Rosario — the same monument that has become a symbol of Argentine national identity.
The ceremony will lean heavily on Argentine music, bringing together artists from different generations and styles on a single stage. Confirmed performers include Soledad Pastorutti, Abel Pintos, Luck Ra, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Cacho Deicas, Valentino Merlo and Agustín Rada Aristarán, with musical arrangements led by Lito Vitale. More than 100 artists will take the stage, backed by a production and stage crew of roughly 400 people.
Rather than a simple string of musical performances, organizers describe the ceremony as an integrated spectacle — one designed to tell the story of Santa Fe’s identity, its history, and how sport can serve as a meeting point for the whole of South America. The National Flag Memorial itself will become a central part of the show, enhanced with video mapping, large screens, lighting design and other staging elements built specifically for the occasion.
Local Santa Fe-born artists — Pastorutti, Baglietto, Deicas and Merlo — will carry particular symbolic weight, representing a province deeply rooted in popular music, while Pintos, Luck Ra and Rada Aristarán bring newer generations into the celebration, blending tradition with contemporary sound.
A Massive Sporting Program — and a Gateway to Lima 2027
Beyond the ceremony, the real story of Santa Fe 2026 is the sheer scale of competition: more than 4,000 athletes from 15 South American countries will compete across 43 sports and 60 disciplines over two full weeks, spanning venues in Santa Fe, Rosario, Rafaela, Mar Del Plata and Buenos Aires.
Of particular significance, 26 of those sports — spanning 34 disciplines — will also serve as qualifying events for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, giving Santa Fe 2026 added weight as a stepping stone toward the region’s next major Olympic-cycle event. The Lima 2027 qualifying program includes:
With Lima just 324 days away, Santa Fe 2026 offers athletes across the continent a critical opportunity to punch their ticket to the next Pan American Games while competing on home soil in Argentina.
Watch Every Moment, Live and Free
For fans who can’t make it to Santa Fe, Rosario or Rafaela in person, Panam Sports has confirmed that the entire two weeks of competition — from the Opening Ceremony on September 12 through the closing on September 26 — will be broadcast live and free of charge on the Panam Sports channel, giving fans across the Americas unprecedented access to the region’s premier multi-sport showcase.
With the stage set, the artists confirmed, and the countdown now down to single digits, all that’s left is for South America’s best athletes to take the field, the pool, the track and the court — and for the region to watch, together.
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