Featured image credit: Games of the Future
Kazakhstan has been awarded hosting rights for the 2026 edition of the Games of the Future, an event that fuses physical and digital sports.
The country has been selected following a “highly competitive” process carried out by event organiser Phygital International. The host city has not yet been confirmed.
Phygital International said that Kazakhstan has proven itself capable of hosting international tournaments in state-of-the-art sports venues. Thousands of athletes and esports competitors are set to take part in the 2026 event.
The Games of the Future debuted in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this year and will head to Dubai in 2025.
When announcing Dubai as the host city, Phygital International said that multiple cities from across the world had submitted bids for the 2026 and 2027 events. A host for the 2027 edition has not yet been confirmed, with interested parties having until December 31 to submit an application.
Nis Hatt, chief executive of Phygital International, said: “We’re hugely excited for Kazakhstan to receive the phygital flame from next year’s host, the UAE, to host the 2026 tournament. It’s so pleasing to see the exponential growth of not only phygital sports, but also the global phygital community. In fact, the host nation bidding process for Games of the Future 2027 is already hotting up but there’s still time for other countries to put their bid in before the deadline in December.”
Yerbol Myrzabossynov, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, added: “It is a privilege for our great nation of Kazakhstan to be awarded the honour of hosting the Games of the Future in 2026. Our country has supported phygital sport from its very inception, and we take pride in being the next in line to host this great event and we’re excited to receive the phygital flame from the UAE, whose hosting in 2025 we greatly look forward to.”
The Games of the Future are open to competitors of any age, gender and nationality.
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