When I stepped into this role, I inherited a movement built by a community of organizers, athletes and partners who have spent years proving that phygital sport works – market by market, from nothing. My job now is to give that momentum a clear direction, and to set out where I intend to take us and how I plan to get there.
We all know that the main priority for the next six months is securing host cities for the Games of the Future (GOTF). Everything we do depends on cities willing to commit to us, and we need to turn our process into a genuine pipeline. We are in already in the advanced stages of negotiations for 2027 and as soon as that is settled, we will move straight into awarding 2028 and begin work on 2029 – no delay, one after the other, back-to-back.
We want a concurrent three-year planning cycle running at all times, because that is what brands and publishers need in order to commit properly. To best leverage any partnership – whether with a brand, a publisher, a government agency, or a host city – they all need enough lead time to do what they want to do.
This three-year pipeline is also what will give our World Phygital Community (WPC) members – the people organizing and hosting tournaments in their own countries – the certainty they need to build a season around. Without a confirmed host city, and without some sense of what athletes are playing for, the WPC cannot promote what they are doing or attract the players who make a tournament worth watching. Certainty is the foundation everything else sits on.
The recent Games of the Future 2026 in Astana gave us a benchmark I am proud to hold up to future partners: an opening ceremony that did genuine honor to its host nation, arenas built with the scale and technical specification our disciplines deserve, and immaculate production values equal to the best in the world. That is our standard now.
We also need to grow deliberately rather than opportunistically. In Astana, there was a more limited slate of disciplines than in Abu Dhabi – that was a competency decision, not a compromise. Personally, I would rather award a host city eight disciplines delivered brilliantly than twelve delivered sub-optimally. But make no mistake, we are firmly committed to expanding, including bringing tech sports such as drone racing etc. properly into the program, if a host city can deliver it to the standard our brand demands. Growth for its own sake is not the goal – credibility with our athletes, our host cities and our partners is, and that only comes from delivering what we promise.
We are currently in conversation with credible, enthusiastic activators across the western hemisphere who want to bring this movement to their own cities and I believe we will see a Games of the Future held in the West within the next two to three years. It will also help drive momentum for phygital in western countries in general. Latin America is already fertile ground for us, and both Europe and the United States represent genuinely large markets for the future.
The fastest way to build awareness in a new market is not a slow, grassroots build, one city at a time – it is by committing to host a GOTF tournament there and letting the event itself do the work. Of course, it will take a lot of promotional and educational effort to get there, but from the conversations we’re having, people are very enthusiastic about working with us. I’m convinced it’s going to happen – but it’s time to get to work.
– Daniel Merkley, CEO, Phygital International
You can find out more about Daniel’s plans – plus all the latest developments in the world of phygital – by subscribing to the free Phygital International Ezine here.