This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress
The first edition of the E-Sport Olympic Games, an event marking both in the world of e-sport and within the Olympic movement, will take place in 2027 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, announced Tuesday the International Olympic Committee (CIO).
In a statement published in the aftermath of a meeting on Sunday in Riyadh for the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salmane Al Saoud and the Minister of Sports and President of the Saudi CNOP, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al Faisal, the international body based in Lausanne specifies that the course to the games, with the first Olympic competitions, will start this year.
During the 142nd CIO session last July, the IOC made a historic decision with the creation of the e-sport Olympic Games and entrusted their organization to Saudi Arabia until 2037, according to a periodicity that remains at define.
As part of the cooperation between the IOC and the CNOP, the ESports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) will become the founding partner of the E-Sport Olympic Games. The CIO-EWCF partnership aims to create a lasting impact, by filling the gap between e-sport and traditional sports while expanding opportunities for players and teams representing their country, underlines the CIO.
As a founding partner of these games, the EWCF will bring its expertise in the selection of games, tournament structure and ecosystem engagement to promote innovation in the development of the E- Olympic Games sport. The IOC and the EWCF will collaborate closely with the main stakeholders to establish qualification principles, strengthen the integrity of competitions and align national e-sport ecosystems with larger global standards.
“There is now a very clear roadmap for the very first E-Sport Olympic Games. The course to the e-sport Olympic Games began this year and the games are becoming a reality. It is a new proof of the solidity of the partnership between the IOC and the Saudi Arabia CNOP in many areas, “said Bach, quoted in the press release.
For his part, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al Faisal indicated that today, the road to the very first Olympic Games in E-Sport is clear, with an immediate calendar that suits all parties and which provides that the course to the e-sport Olympic Games will start in 2025 ”.
“With the IOC, there is a real momentum, a unit and a clarity on the path to follow, the accent being now put on delivery,” he added.
The partnership between the IOC and the Saudi Arabia CNOP comes at a time when sport as a whole experiences strong growth in this country. The Saudi kingdom has hosted more than 100 international male and women’s competitions, especially in the fields of e-sport, football, mechanical sports, tennis, equestrian and golf sports, which have attended more than three million fans.
