It will be the first time that the event, first held in 1966, has ever been staged in Estonia.

Otepää, a small town in Valga County, southern Estonia, is a well-known skiing venue which hosts an annual International Ski Federation Cross-Country World Cup event.

Otepää cross-country skiing centre, located 45 kilometres from Tartu, Estonia's second biggest city after the capital Tallinn, will be the centre for the World Orienteering Championships. 

The unanimous decision by the ruling Council of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) to award the event to Otepää followed recommendations from the Foot Orienteering Commission and the Björn Persson, the IOF sports director.

Switzerland's Simone Niggli-Luder celebrates winning the women's race at this year's World Orienteering Championships in Vuokatti, Finland

"The World Orienteering 2017 in South Estonia will be realisation of a long-time dream of Estonian orienteering community," said a spokesman for the Otepää organisers.

"It is planned that the World Orienteering Championships will be the highlight of events and activities making orienteering visible and more popular in Estonia and also establish it as an attractive TV sport in Estonian media."

This year's World Championships were held in Vuokatti in Finland, where the men's title was won by France's Thierry Gueorgiou and the women's by Switzerland's Simone Niggli-Luder.

Next year's event is due to take place in Asiago-Lavarone in Italy and will be followed in 2015 in Inverness, Scotland, and 2016 in Strömstad, Sweden.

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