{"id":410181,"date":"2026-06-05T11:57:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/?p=410181"},"modified":"2026-06-05T11:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:58:23","slug":"ufl-set-to-deepen-mark-on-phygital-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/ufl-set-to-deepen-mark-on-phygital-football\/","title":{"rendered":"UFL set to deepen mark on phygital football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Phygital International has confirmed UFL as the official game title for one of its most popular disciplines.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The free-to-play sports simulation video game, developed and published by Strikerz, was prominently featured in the inaugural Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 and will return this summer in Astana, Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The competition, set to run from 4-9 August at the ‘Qazaqstan’ Athletics Sports Complex, will bring together the world’s leading phygital (physical, digital) football teams to contest a total prize pool of $625,000 (\u20ac537,500). Built around competitive integrity, responsiveness and player control, the free-to-play football simulator has swiftly cultivated a global community, making it a natural fit for the breakneck demands of phygital competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In phygital football, teams first compete on the UFL virtual pitch before moving straight into a live five-a-side match. The results from both stages are then combined to determine the winner. It is a format that forges a direct link between digital decision-making and physical execution, obliging athletes to prove tactical consistency across two very different arenas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Games of the Future 2025, phygital football emerged as the most-watched phygital discipline, generating 87.6 million cumulative views across streaming platforms during the event.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Al-Badeesh, head of Publisher Relations and IP Licensing at Phygital International, considers that “when you build a phygital competition, the game title is not just a licensing decision, it’s a sporting one. UFL’s emphasis on player control and genuine competitive balance means the digital stage truly reflects skill, not game mechanics. That’s what makes it the ideal title for Phygital Football, and why we’re bringing it to Astana.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UFL, partnered with FIFPro, the global union representing more than 65,000 professional footballers, and holds licences for a number of European clubs, joins a strong line-up of game titles that also includes 3on3 Freestyle, Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, offering a robust spread of top-tier esports on the digital side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is another important step for the game’s competitive and esports ecosystem,” Eugene Nashilov, CEO at Strikerz Inc, the title’s developing company, explained recently. “We’re excited to continue supporting a format where digital gameplay and realworld football performance come together, while giving players and clubs an opportunity to compete on one of the biggest stages in phygital sport”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several teams have already secured their place in Astana, including CD Holcattes of Guatemala, Pe\u00f1arol of Uruguay and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates, alongside the reigning champions, Mexican outfit Quetzales-Armadillos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remaining spots\u00a0will be decided at Phygital Contenders Astana, taking place from 10-14 June, where clubs from Brazil, Spain, Cyprus, Peru and other international markets will compete for the final berth in the main event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GOTF 2026,\u00a0for which tickets have been on sale since the end of May, will be staged in the Kazakh capital, from 29 July to 9 August, with more than 800 athletes competing for a total prize fund of approximately $4.75 million (\u20ac4.85m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The free-to-play sports simulation video game, developed and published by Strikerz, was prominently featured in the inaugural Games of the Future Abu Dhabi 2025 and will return this summer in Astana, Kazakhstan. The competition, set to run from 4-9 August at the ‘Qazaqstan’ Athletics Sports Complex, will bring together the world’s leading phygital (physical, digital) football […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410185,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410181\/revisions\/410185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}