Baku: Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a new PlayStation game or something you might order with sushi in a Japanese restaurant?

Of course, insidethegames followers will be well aware that in fact it is the capital of Azerbaijan and an ambitious player in sport's international marketplace.

But for the world at large, this four-letter word is one that will become increasingly familiar in the sporting lexicon as sports organisations seek fresh, hospitable environments to promote and stage major events.

One such happening has been secured for 2015 - thanks to more than a little help from expertise honed in London here during 2012.

More of the forthcoming inaugural European Games anon.

Baku is an ambitious player in sport's international marketplace ©AFP/Getty Images


The backdrop to Eastern Europe's newest and most vibrant hub is fascinating. Baku, a city of some two million, has certain geographic distinction. At 28 metres below sea level, it is the lowest lying national capital - and largest city in the world located below sea level.

Unlike those Middle East hotspots jostling for positions of sporting power, it is climatically agreeable for much of the year, largely because of its northerly latitude that it is located on a peninsula projecting into the Caspian Sea.

While the majority of Azerbaijanis are Muslim, theirs is a sufficiently liberal form of Islam to comfortably exist in what by statute is a secular state, which ensures religious freedom. Religious minorities include Russian Orthodox Christian, Catholics and Jews.

Previous claims to fame include hosting last year's Eurovision Song Contest and the 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships.

Now Baku's hosting of the first European "Olympics" will greatly assist its enlistment to the international sporting establishment.

Baku hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest won by Sweden's Loreen
©AFP/Getty Images


Baku has twice bid for the full-blown Olympics - those in 2016 and 2020 - but did not make the cut. Few doubt that one day it will.

According to the Lonely Planet rankings, Baku is also among the world's top ten destinations for urban nightlife. Though Las Vegas it isn't - yet.

But there are enough petro-dollars knocking around to have leading professional boxing promoters sniffing it out as a tax-friendly haven for future big fights.

Baku's long-term sports strategy includes hosting the European Youth Olympic Trials in June 2014, the European Athletics Convention in October 2014 and the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017.

Such is its potential that Darryl Seibel, high-flying communications chief of the British Olympic Association (BOA), will be departing after the Sochi Winter Games in February to become the full-time orchestrator of the PR build-up for the European Games, which run from June 12-28, 2015.

Athletics has yet to commit but there will be 18 sports plus the newly added element of Street Games, a total involvement of more than 5,000 competitors from 49 countries.

Darryl Seibel will become the full-time orchestrator of the PR build-up for the 2015 European Games following the conclusion of Sochi 2014 ©Getty Images


"It is a tall order to put together a first-time event as it brings many challenges," says Seibel. "We are doing it in a very compressed calendar, as the European Olympic Committee (EOC) only agreed to go ahead last December.

"With an Olympic Games you have seven years to prepare; we have to do this in two and a half.

"The model is very much like that of the Asian or Pan-American Games."

Seibel is American, as is the Games chief operating officer Jim Scherr. But the bulk of the engine room will be comprised of Britons, most of who are being recruited on the back of 2012.

"The team being put together has some outstanding talent, much of it from London 2012," Seibel told insidethegames.

"These include key posts like venues, housing, transportation and logistics - areas where London 2012 really excelled."

Among those already on board are James Macleod, who was in charge of LOCOG's service division, and new sports director Pierce O'Callaghan, who has worked with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the EOC.

Simon Clegg has been appointed to oversee the EOC involvement in the European Games as senior consultant and executive director ©Getty Images


However, perhaps the most intriguing presence is that of Simon Clegg, the former BOA chief executive, latterly chief executive of Football League club Ipswich Town and consultant to Madrid's 2020 Olympic bid. Last week he was elected to the BOA Board that once employed him for 20 years. Clegg will oversee the EOC involvement in the Games as senior consultant/executive director.

Current BOA chair Sebastian Coe has given the Euro Games his endorsement. "He is very enthusiastic," says Seibel, "especially as there will be so many in Baku who worked with him on 2012."

Seibel himself became involved when approached by former United States Olympic Committee (USOC) secretary general Scherr, with whom he worked first with at US Wrestling and subsequently for six years as top spin doctor at the USOC from 2003-2009.

"The opportunity to work again with Jim certainly appealed to me," he says.

The move was accelerated when Seibel failed to land the vacant post of BOA chief executive, for which he had applied and was a serious contender before they settled for the commercial nous of new incumbent Bill Sweeney, former head of Puma business development.

Seibel, much admired for his handling of the BOA image during an impressive 2012 media-friendly campaign - he was one of then chairman Colin Moynihan's more inspired hirings - would have stayed with the BOA had he got the chief executive's job.

Coe wanted him to stay put, but he will go with the good Lord's blessing and good wishes. So Siebel is currently dividing his time between working for the BOA on Sochi 2014 and advance planning for Baku 2015.

Baku 2015 illustrates Azerbaijan's sporting ambitions @Francesco Vignali/Baku 2015


"There is no doubt that working with the BOA, not just on the 2012 project, and with the British media, has been the most rewarding chapter in my professional career," he added.

Whether Coe will seek another high-flyer to replace the personable American is an interesting question.

Jackie Brock-Doyle, his London 2012 communications director would have been ideal but she has since moved onwards and upwards as chief executive of international PR outfit Good Relations. Coe could promote Seibel's extremely capable number two Miriam Wilkens. There are also a couple of well-respected journalists with outstanding Olympic credentials who might interest him - Adrian Warner, who leaves the BBC next year, and Ashling O'Connor, late of The Times.

Meantime, Baku beckons for Seibel and comrades of the Class of 2012.

"Baku is a fantastic place, a city on the move and one where those of us who work in international sport are going to be spending an increasing amount of time in the coming years," Seibel concludes.

Knowing Seibel's propensity for a professionally masterminding a lively promotional campaign, we can be certain we'll be hearing a great deal more about this ultra-ambitious sporting citadel. All of it good.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.