The Games of the Future 2025 will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from December 18-23.
Following a competitive bidding process, featuring expressions of interest from nine prospective bidders, the UAE was declared as the official host and destination of the Games of the Future 2025 during the inaugural World Phygital Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, held on July 3.
This six-day phygital (physical + digital) sports competition will bring together athletes, game-changers, and fans to experience a new format of sports that blends real-world actions with virtual elements.
The event will be hosted at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).
With a track record of delivering landmark global events, ASPIRE will be taking the lead as the official delivery authority for the Games of the Future 2025, ensuring an innovative, seamless, and unforgettable experience from start to finish. Joining forces with them is Ethara, the operations powerhouse behind some of the city’s key iconic events, bringing world-class expertise to ensure that GOTF runs flawlessly at every level.
The UAE proved itself a natural destination of choice during the bidding process to host the Games of the Future 2025 by clearly showcasing its credibility as a global hub with first-rate infrastructure and extensive experience in organising and delivering world-leading international events. This vast experience, combined with a strong commitment throughout all stages of the bidding process from the highest levels of the nation’s leadership, lead to a unanimous decision by Phygital International’s expert bidding coordinators to award the honour of hosting the Games of the Future 2025 to the UAE.
Per the orgaanisers, “The Games of the Future 2025 is the pinnacle event in phygital sport. It is an international tournament that brings together the next generation of dynamic sporting heroes from all over the world: thousands of well-balanced 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, phygital MMA and many more.”
Phygital International CEO Nis Hatt noted: “We are delighted to announce the UAE as the host of the Games of the Future 2025. 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. Bring on Games of the Future 2025!”
Ghanim Al Hajeri, director general, General Authority of Sport, UAE, commented: “Bringing the Games of the Future 2025 to the United Arab Emirates represents an exciting moment in redefining international sports for the modern world. 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 athletes and esports persons from as many as 100 countries, as part of national and multinational teams.
