AusLeisure

Following a competitive bidding process, featuring expressions of interest from nine prospective bidders, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been declared as the official host and destination of the Games of the Future 2025 during the inaugural World Phygital Summit in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The pinnacle event in phygital* sport, the Games of the Future is an international tournament that brings together athletes who demonstrate superior skills across both physical and digital competition.

Over 300 international teams are expected to participate in the multi-sport event which will feature a number challenges over wide range of disciplines including phygital football, phygital hockey, phygital skateboarding and phygital MMA.

Advising of the hosting, Phygital International Chief Executive, Nis Hatt commented “the global popularity of phygital sports grows by the day, and we're expecting a sell-out tournament again next year.

“We're thrilled to pass the phygital flame over to UAE whose top notch winning bid, and clear long-term commitment to developing a healthy, active population, has me in no doubt that the event will be a huge success.

Ghanim Al Hajeri, Director General of the UAE General Authority of Sport, added “we are proud to be hosting this innovative and unique tournament that merges cutting-edge technology, popular video gaming, and traditional sport.

“We're confident that hosting the 2025 Games will not only cement us as leaders in the sporting world, but also incentivise our national digital community towards an active lifestyle and help us reach our national sporting goal of 75% active population by 2031."

The Games of the Future places no restrictions on its participants and welcomes everyone, regardless of their age, gender and nationality. Phygital International expects Games of the Future 2025 in the UAE to welcome thousands of world-class athletes and esports persons from as many as 100 countries, as part of national and multinational teams.

*Phygital (physical plus digital) is a marketing term that describes blending digital experiences with physical ones.

Image: The 2024 Games of the Future in the Russian city of Kazan. Credit: Phygital International.

Related Articles

29th April 2024 - Melbourne and Olympic Park transformed for Dreamhack esports event

16th March 2024 - Esports Festival to attract thousands of fans to Melbourne

14th February 2024 - International esports exhibition match in Darwin to blend culture and entertainment

15th December 2023 - Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya mega-project to include world’s first gaming and esport district

12th November 2023 - OneQode and LetsPlay.Live collaborate for delivery of Asia-Pacific Esports League

23rd October 2023 - Saudi Crown Prince announces creation of Esports World Cup

15th October 2023 - IOC President announces plans to create Olympic Esports Games

4th September 2023 - Motorsport Australia wins in esports category 2023 Australia and New Zealand Sports Technology Awards

4th August 2023 - Holn Gaming named Top Esports Club in Lombok, Indonesia

3rd August 2023 - Inclusion in Asian Games to play pivotal role in promoting esports culture and participation

30th May 2023 - Details released for Singapore’s hosting of first-ever Olympic Esports Week

13th September 2022 - Malaysia’s first esports hotel launches its first NFT collection

14th August 2022 - Global Esports Federation and VSPN partner to expand events in China and South Korea

22nd April 2022 - Global Esports Federation announces IMG as its Strategic Partner

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.