and South Africa, the CGA functions are assumed by their NOCs. One of the differences from other multisport events is that 15 CGAs participating in the Commonwealth Games do not send their delegations independently from the Olympic, Paralympic and other multisports competitions, as 13 are linked to the British Olympic Association, 1 is part of Australian Olympic Committee and another one is part of the New Zealand Olympic Committee as their Paralympic counterparts. They are: the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), the British Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Saint Helena and Turks and Caicos Islands), the Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey), Niue and Norfolk Island send separate teams. It is expected that Gabon and Togo will send a team for the first time at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as the two countries were admitted to the Commonwealth in June 2022 and they did not have time to organise their associations for the 2022 Games which was scheduled for the end of July. 20 cities in nine countries (counting England, Scotland and Wales separately) have hosted the games. Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games five times (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006 and 2018 and will host the next edition in 2026), more than any other nation. Two cities have hosted Commonwealth Games more than once: Auckland (1950, 1990) and Edinburgh (1970, 1986). Only six nations have participated in every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Of these six, Australia, England, Canada and New Zealand have each won at least one gold medal in every Games. Australia has been the highest achieving team for thirteen editions of the Games, England for seven, and Canada for one. These three teams also top the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table in that order. The most recent Commonwealth Games, the 22nd, were held in Birmingham from 28 July to 8 August 2022. The next Commonwealth Games will be the first games in history held in a decentralized way, as they are scheduled to be hosted across four cities in the Australian state of Victoria from 17 to 29 March 2026. History A sporting competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was first proposed by John Astley Cooper in 1891, who wrote letters and articles for several periodicals suggesting a "Pan Brittanic, Pan Anglican Contest every four years as