The venue for the event will be the Kombank Arena in Novi Beograd, one of 17 municipalities that constitutes the City of Belgrade and the financial centre of the Serbian capital. 

The Arena is a universal hall of sports, used for several international events in the recent past, including the 2012 European Men's Handball Championships and is also home to the Red Star and Partizan Belgrade basketball teams.

It was opened in 2004 after being built at a cost of €70 million (£57 million/$97 million).

Work on it had started in 1991 based upon a design submitted by Belgrade architect Vlada Slavica and it was supposed to host the 1994 World Basketball Championships.

But the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the NATO bombing of Belgrade meant that work on the Arena was suspended.

The first public event that the Arena actually held was when it was partially finished in 2000 when it staged the campaign rally of then Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević

It was the last occasion Milošević held a public speech before being arrested and tried on war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. 

Istanbul had hosted a successful 2012 International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships, while Torun had been hoping to host the event in a new arena due to be opened later this year.

"The Serbian Athletics Federation demonstrated their passion and desire and will use these Championships to promote athletics as the most popular sport in Serbia," said European Athletics.

Belgrade has experience in organising athletics events, most recently with the European Cross Country Championships in December 2013.

The 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Gothenburg while 2015 is due to take place in Prague.

Members of Belgrade's delegation celebrate being awarded the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Frankfurt ©European Athletics