Rally Sweden is one of the WRC's most traditional events. But behind the scenes there has been significant unrest for weeks. Rally Sweden AB, which organizes the WRC round around Umeå, is in financial difficulty. According to Swedish media reports the deficit amounts to around 1.45 million euros.
Particularly problematic is the handling of public subsidies. The city of Umeå supports the event annually with around 1.3 million euros. According to research by the newspaper Värmlands Folkblad, funds that were actually intended for the 2027 rally had already been used to pay off older liabilities.
Managing director Anna Nordkvist does not deny that the financing is difficult. However, she points to the high costs incurred by moving the rally from Värmland to Umeå. She considers the assertion that all funds for 2027 have already been spent to be too simplified. She also rejects the idea of an imminent bankruptcy.
Six regional associations demand consequences
Meanwhile the crisis has reached the Swedish Motorsport Federation SBF, which owns Rally Sweden AB. Six of the twelve regional associations have withdrawn their confidence in the current federation leadership and are demanding an extraordinary general meeting.
At that meeting a new leadership is to be decided. At the same time the critics are calling for a fundamental change in the organization of Rally Sweden.
Per-Erik Norbäck from the regional association Mittelnorrland sees the national motorsport federation's responsibility primarily toward its members. He says it is not the federation's job to organize rallies or other motorsport events itself and to cover their financial losses year after year.
In his view the rally should in future be run by an independent promoter. How such a solution might look is still open.
Already in September talks about a possible sale to an investor group from Umeå failed. The interested parties had among other things pointed to uncertainties in the financial situation.
Rally Sweden is scheduled from 18 to 21 February 2027 as the second WRC round. Despite the difficulties preparations continue. The organizers are working on a new financing structure and intend to stage the event as planned.
Paraguay loses main backer
Also in South America there are concerns about the future of a WRC round. Rally Paraguay faces substantial financial challenges after the collapse of its main sponsor Ueno Bank.
The bank was placed under state control by the Paraguayan central bank in early November due to serious financial problems. Millions of customers temporarily had no access to their accounts. The affair developed into a political crisis that ultimately led to the removal of President Santiago Peña.
For rallying the collapse has immediate consequences. Ueno Bank had been the event's most important commercial partner since Paraguay was added to the WRC calendar. There was also a corresponding agreement in place for 2027.
Camilo Pérez, a member of the organizing committee and president of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee, already admitted in early November that he was very worried about the financing of the next WRC round.
The organizers must now find a new main sponsor. Pérez was however confident that a replacement can be found. It is also unclear which obligations from the existing contracts with Ueno Bank can still be fulfilled.
Rally Paraguay is scheduled to take place from 21 to 24 October 2027. Only in 2025 did the South American country first host a round of the WRC. A long-term extension of the WRC contract had even been discussed for the coming years.
Both WRC rounds remain on the calendar for now
Neither Sweden nor Paraguay have so far been removed from the 2027 world championship calendar. While in Umeå it is primarily the ownership structure and long-term financing that are under discussion, the organiser in Paraguay must in the short term compensate for the loss of a central funder.
These difficulties come at an inopportune time for the new WRC promoter. The championship is set to enter its next phase in 2027 with new technical regulations, additional constructors and a calendar expanded to 15 events.
