There is still uncertainty as to exactly when the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will take place but FIFA President Sepp Blatter, also an IOC member, has promised that it will steer clear of the Olympic Winter Games.

There was also plenty to concern the Olympic Movement when they first gathered in Monaco. Back in 1927 their meetings were held at the Institute of Oceanography. In the preceding years, feverish discussion on the question of amateurism threatened to tear the sporting community apart.

The Institute of Oceanography held the 1927 IOC Session, the first to be held in Monte Carlo ©AFP/Getty Images

The most violent disagreements came over the practice of "broken-time". These were payments made to ostensibly amateur competitors to compensate them for loss of earnings whilst training or playing. Some countries even threatened to withdraw their teams. In addition, the International Sports Federations had been agitating for greater influence in how their sports were run at the Olympics.

In fact, the problems which became clear in the 1920s continued to dog the Movement for the next half-century, although a compromise enabled IOC President Count Henri de Baillet-Latour to strike an optimistic note. "The gay scenery surrounding us is a much meaning (sic) coincidence this year for the Olympic atmosphere is now rid of the clouds that darkened it."

More than 30 members made their way to Monte Carlo for the meetings which had been organised by Count Albert Gautier Vignal, the first member of the IOC to come from Monaco. Vignal hosted a banquet for the members in Nice, and later in the week, he also organised a garden party. In those days, all IOC members were asked to pay a subscription. This had been fixed at 200 Swiss Francs per annum.

The previous President Pierre de Coubertin was not in Monte Carlo. He was visiting Ancient Olympia in Greece at the time. Even so, he could not resist sending a message to his erstwhile colleagues.

"The future depends on you," he told them. "It belongs to you now to keep the flag flying. In this modern world so full of powerful possibilities, yet threatened by so many risks of degeneration, Olympism may be a school of moral nobility and purity.''

Baillet-Latour asked his membership to give what he called a "memorable" document as much publicity as possible.

Germany's Theodor Lewald was among those elected to the Executive Committee, now known as the Executive Board. After the First World War, Germany and her allies had initially been excluded from the Games themselves so this was an important development. Who would have thought back then that, 87 years later, that it would be a German President driving forward the future of the Olympic Movement? 

Theodor Lewald was elected to the IOC Executive Committee, as it was called then, a move interpreted as bringing Germany back into the Olympic family following World War One ©Hulton Archive

The next Olympic Games were due in Amsterdam in 1928 and Organising Committee secretary Captain George van Rossem, "gave to the satisfaction of all, exact details on the state of work."

The American member General Charles Sherrill "expressed his regret that it had not been possible to have a straight track for the 200 metres and deplored such an important event should be contested around the track."

Sherrill returned later in the meeting to give an update on the preparations for 1932 Games.

These had been allocated to Los Angeles but there had been rumours that the venue was about to be switched to Washington, DC. William May Garland, the real estate millionaire who had been responsible for bringing the 1932 Summer Olympics to California, was not able to attend the meeting in Monaco but he sent a telegram to announce:

"PREPARATIONS ARE WELL ON THE WAY AND THERE WAS NO QUESTION OF THE GAMES BEING TRANSFERRED TO WASHINGTON."

Sherrill announced that his Organising Committee offered to "to send a boat which would transport the athletes to Los Angeles direct via the Panama Canal". He was asked to consider the possibility of giving "an estimated price per athlete which would include transport and maintenance during the whole of his absence."

The IOC also looked ahead towards 1936. The Italians had yet to decide whether to put forward Rome or Milan but other cities who registered their interest were Alexandria,  Barcelona, Budapest, Helsinki, Lausanne, Rio de Janeiro and, of course, the eventual winning host city Berlin. Lewald was the driving force behind Berlin's successful bid and would become chairman of the Organising Committee.

Tennis and shooting, had both been removed from the Olympic programme after Paris 1924 and representatives of both sports came to request re-admittance. Tennis did not succeed in this goal until Seoul held the Games in 1988, but a very limited shooting programme was eventually included in Los Angeles at the 1932 Games. The amateur status of shooters continued to be a tricky problem for the IOC. Those who worked as instructors were considered "professional".

The idea of a regional Games was already well advanced. An African Games were planned and a Committee from the IOC was dispatched to work out a formula on eligibility. In the event, their work was in vain because the African Games did not take place. They were eventually launched in 1965. 

It was also in Monaco that the look of the Olympic medal was confirmed for Amsterdam. The winning design was by the Italian Professor Giuseppe Cassioli. His design featured an athlete carried on the shoulders of his competitors. This was little changed until Athens 2004.

Designs for the medal awarded at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam were approved at the 1927 Session in Monte Carlo ©Olympic Museum

Another medal was also to be struck at the suggestion of the Swede, Sigfrid Edström, a future IOC President. This was to honour the Reverend Robert Courcy Laffan, a long serving member in Great Britain who had died a few weeks earlier.

At this meeting his fellow Briton Lord Rochdale, a former first-class cricketer who had fought in the Boer War, was elected. There were two other newcomers. Thomas Fearnley of Norway, a member of the Fearnley dynasty of shipping magnates, and the American Ernest Lee Jahncke, destined eventually to be expelled in 1936 as a result of his outspoken objection to the Games staged in Hitler's Berlin. He was the first member ever to be expelled from the IOC, a record he held until the 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal when six were thrown out. 

That 1927 Session had been opened by Prince Louis, its official patron. It was the start a long association with Olympism for Monaco's royal house of Grimaldi.

His grandson Prince Rainier became an IOC member in 1949 but his tenure was brief. He resigned when he assumed the responsibilities of Head of State in Monaco. He was succeeded as IOC member by his own father Prince Pierre, who promoted a competition to find a new Olympic hymn in the 1950s.

Rainier watched his son Prince Albert become an Olympian for the first time when he competed in the two-man bobsleigh at the 1988 Calgary Games. That summer both visited the Olympic headquarters in Lausanne. Rainier was presented with the Olympic order in gold by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. The Prince returned the hospitality five years later when the entire Olympic family descended upon Monte Carlo for the 101st session.

At the opening ceremony the orchestra played the overture from Verdi's "La forza del destino". This was an appropriate prelude as the Olympic destiny of the host city for 2000 was about to be decided.

The vote in Monaco, at the Sporting d'Ete club, was the culmination of a long and often bitter campaign. September 23 was Decision Day. Berlin were the first into the hall shortly after breakfast to make their presentation. Their group included Steffi Graf, the first Olympic champion when tennis was restored to the programme.  Sydney and Manchester's presentations both featured their Prime Ministers, Australia's Paul Keating and Britain's John Major. Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing supported Beijing.

Turkey's first female Prime Minister Tansu Çiller joined Istanbul's team. They were the final city to present as tea-time approached. Most experts agreed the winners would be Beijing or Sydney. During the voting process, the actual votes received by each city were kept secret but the experts were proved right as the contest went to a fourth and final round. Then came an agonising two-hour wait for the announcement of the result.

When Samaranch took to the platform to announce the result, he began by thanking each bidding city. When they heard their city's name announced, many watching on big screens in Beijing celebrated victory, prematurely as it turned out. "We really regret that there is only one winner," continued Samaranch, widely believed to have favoured the Chinese capital.

The announcement seconds later that, "The winner is Sydney", set the Australians partying. They had won by only two votes. It was claimed that the announcement had been watched by a television audience of 1.6 billion worldwide.

Bid leader Rod McGeoch and New South Wales Premier John Fahey celebrate Sydney being awarded the 2000 Olympics at the IOC Session in Monte Carlo in 1993 ©Getty Images

Monaco 1993 was also for notable for significant modernisation of the sports programme. Women's football was admitted, along with beach volleyball and mountain biking. All these innovations came in time for the 1996 Centennial Games in Atlanta.

Henry Rey, President of the Monégasque Olympic Committee had spoken of "the destiny of small nations in the international sport environment" and the Olympic family now grew to 194 members. Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde, Comoros Islands, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia were all granted membership in their own right.

Most controversial of all, Palestine was also given provisional membership. Their acceptance had been made possible by political agreements over the Gaza strip that year but many still remembered the Munich Games when terrorists killed 11 members of the Israeli team.

"There were very black moments for Olympic history in 1972, but we are in 1993," said IOC director François Carrard. "Times are changing. This is a time for the Olympic Movement to open its arms and help young Palestinian athletes practice their sports."

The 1993 session also granted "outright" recognition to the nations of the former Soviet Union. These had competed as a "Unified team" at Albertville and Barcelona in 1992, but Ukraine and others now took their places as independent countries. Four members of the former Yugoslavian Federation were also accorded outright recognition. Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, though conflict still raged there.

Now, 21 years on, another part of the Balkan Olympic jigsaw is also to be completed in Monaco. The IOC Executive board  granted "provisional recognition" to Kosovo in October.

Kosovo are set to be formally granted IOC membership at the 127th Session in Monte Carlo - 21 years after the other countries that comprised the former Republic of Yugoslavia were granted recognition at the last Session in the Principality ©Kosovo NOC

"The NOC of Kosovo has met the requirements for recognition as outlined in the Olympic charter," said an IOC statement. "The decision was taken by the Executive Board in the interests of athletes and to remove any uncertainty they may have." The full IOC membership will be asked to approve Kosovo's status, which is expected to be a formality.

The main work of the session will be the 40 key points (20+20) that make up Agenda 2020. They are the product of 14 working groups and the IOC say some 40,000 public submissions were received, most of them by email after a huge publicity campaign. "These recommendations are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle," said IOC President Thomas Bach.

The host city bidding process seems certain for a major overhaul which is intended to reduce the financial burden on bidding cities. The new philosophy is to "shape the bidding process as an invitation" and focus on the long term needs of the city.

The limit of 10,500 athletes for Summer Olympics and 2,900 for the Winter Games would be retained but with a more flexible sports programme. Since the abolition of demonstration and exhibition events in the early 1990s, sports have been subject to a seven-year lead-in. Now Games Organising Committees could "make a proposal for the inclusion of one or more events on the Olympic programme". If passed, as it surely will be, this will allow Tokyo to include baseball and softball in 2020.

There would even be much greater flexibility on where the Games take place even "in exceptional circumstances outside the host country."

It is also proposed that the Youth Olympic Games take place in a "non-Olympic year". This new cycle could begin as early as 2023 as all aspects of the positioning of the Youth Olympic Games come under the microscope.

The quest for fair play is likely to receive a $20 million injection (£12 million/€16 million) aimed at "the protection of clean athletes". A total of $10 million (£6 million/€8 million) will be targeted at an education programme on "any kind of manipulation of competitors and related corruption" and a further $10 million (£6 million/€8 million) on "a new scientific approach to anti-doping". When a drugs violation has been proved, the medals will be redistributed in a much more public ceremony than previously.

The Agenda also recommends a modification to strengthen the Olympic Charter's sixth fundamental principles of Olympism. If passed, the wording will now explicitly call for "non-discrimination on sexual orientation".

A dedicated television channel is also planned to drive home the Olympic message. Material on the Olympics already appears on outlets such as YouTube and the new enterprise is expected to reflect new patterns of viewing complete with a range of special Olympic Apps.

"We must seize the moment," said Bach. "We are now in the position to change ourselves rather than being driven - now is the time for change."

Monaco may be the smallest country to ever hold an IOC Session but it is once again set to go down in Olympic history as a place where big changes take place.

Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Sky Sports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and talkSPORT, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications. To follow him on Twitter click here.