BARCELONA, Spain - The South Korean city of Gwangju will host the FINA world championships in 2019 while the capital of Hungary, Budapest, will host the event in 2021, the world swimming governing body FINA announced on Friday at a press conference held in Barcelona.

The announcement was made by the president of FINA, Julio C. Maglione, who pointed out that both presentations from Hungary and Korea were very good.

The FINA released the decision on the same day of the Barcelona World Championships inauguration, which will take place at the Palau Saint Jordi on Friday evening, where organizers have built a swimming pool that will host synchronized swimming and swimming competitions.

According to the organization, the opening ceremony "has been conceived from the perspective of the universal nature of water and of those men and women who have achieved their status as aquatic athletes".

It is expected to be a success because of its originality and large number of spectators, as tickets are sold out.

The competition will last until Aug 4 and will gather a total of 2,293 athletes of 181 countries and regions.