New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS): Zurich will host the 2025 Diamond League Final as China will kickstart the competition by hosting the opening two meets, the organizers said on Wednesday. The season will see 15 cities across 14 countries host the 16th edition of the elite one-day meeting series in athletics.

Xiamen, a sub-provincial city in the southeastern Fujian region of China, will host the opening meet on April 26 with the second meeting of the season set to be held in Shanghai/Suzhou on May 3. The series will then head to Doha and Rabat before the first European meeting of the year in Rome on June 6, followed by stops in Oslo, Stockholm and Paris.

The Road to the Final will then hit Eugene, Monaco and London in July before entering Silesia, Lausanne and Brussels in August. Afterwards, the Diamond League Final will return to Zurich for the first time since 2022 and will be held on August 27 and 28.

All 32 Wanda Diamond League champions will then be crowned at the series final at Weltklasse Zurich, with both the iconic Diamond Trophy and record levels of prize money. In 2025, the series will pay out a record total of 9.24 million US dollars in prize money.

The total prize money awarded per meeting will be 500,000 USD at each of the 14 regular series meetings, and 2,240,000 USD at the Wanda Diamond League Final.

Athletes will compete for points in 32 different disciplines at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final.

In each discipline, the winners at the final are awarded the iconic Diamond Trophy and crowned Wanda Diamond League champion, the sport's most prestigious global title outside the major championships.

Diamond League schedule:

Xiamen April 26

Suzhou May 3

Doha May 16

Rabat May 25

Rome June 6

Oslo June 12

Stockholm June 15

Paris June 20

Eugene July 5

Monaco July 11

London July 19

Silesia August 16

Lausanne August 20

Brussels August 22

Zurich Final August 27 and 28