FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Finals

A slalom racer in full flight, surrounded by snowflakes. The occasion and year 'FINALS DE LA COPA DEL MON D'ESQUI ANDORRA 2019' runs along the inner ring from left to right. The arc-shaped event logo is visible at the centre of the background.

In winter 2019, Andorra hosted one of the most prestigious events in alpine skiing: the finals of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup. The principality in the Pyrenees, home to the Grandvalira ski resort — the largest contiguous ski area on the Iberian Peninsula — is regarded as the region's leading winter sports destination. The infrastructure that Andorra had built up over decades, chiefly as a transit country for bargain shopping, was specifically expanded through developed slopes and international racing operations. The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, run by the Fédération Internationale de Ski et Snowboard since 1967, is the top racing series in alpine skiing. The season's finals, which decide the overall standings, hold special sporting significance and regularly attract a large international audience.

For a country with around 77,000 inhabitants and a territory of barely 470 square kilometres, hosting the 2019 World Cup finals was an unusually large sporting event. Andorra has not built up independent standing in the Olympic sense — the principality has taken part in the Olympic Games since 1976 and has occasionally attracted international attention in winter sports, without ever reaching the absolute top tier. All the more significant, then, was its role as host: the finals in Soldeu-El Tarter drew athletes from the leading skiing nations and briefly placed Andorra at the centre of international winter sports. Andorra issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2019 to mark this event.