BERLIN: The German government said on Wednesday it wanted the country to host the 2040 Summer Olympics, picking a date that avoids a centennial reference to the edition held in Nazi Germany.

Berlin and several other German states had previously mulled a bid for the 2036 Games, 100 years after the capital hosted the 1936 edition, which became known as the Nazi Games.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz`s government is eyeing another date.

`The federal government favours the year 2040 for the Games in Germany 50 years after German reunification (in 1990),` said thegovernment, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the German Olympic Sports Federation and interested regions and cities.

The anniversary year was a chance to show `what values our liberal democracy stands for`, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in the statement.

Germany, which recently staged the men`s European football championships, was a `great host for international sporting events`, Faeser said.

Germany`s bid would `use existing sports facilities in various cities without building new stadiumsfor a lot of money`, Faeser added.

Among the memo`s signatories were Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich, as well as the regions of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.

The government said it would back the bid with almost seven million euros ($7.6 million) of funding between 2024 and 2027.

Germany`s previous experience with hosting the Summer Olympics ended badly.

Germany last hosted the event in Munich in 1972, which was overshadowed by a hostage crisis and a subsequent massacre of Israeli athletes.-AFP