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As phygital sport continues to take over the world, WPC members are creating hubs of phygital athletes and fans in each of their countries. Each of them has a unique buzz that reflects the country and member they are situated in. One such example is Esports Edutech Türkiye, the WPC member in Turkey.
Through a combination of a strong sports culture, an established gaming community, and growing institutional collaborations, Yasin Nuri Çakır, together with his partner Tolga Ildaser and their team, are building the foundations for long-term phygital development across multiple disciplines.
At this year’s Montenegro Future Festival, we spoke to Tolga to get his thoughts on, the challenges of introducing an entirely new competitive category, the early response to it and his vision of a regional hub connecting Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia within the global phygital ecosystem.
When you launched your first event, how was phygital sport received in your country, and what opportunities did you see for growing it locally?
When we launched our first events in Phygital Football, Phygital Basketball and Phygital Dancing, the reaction was a mix of curiosity and excitement.
At first, people didn’t fully understand what phygital meant, but the moment they experienced the transition from digital to physical, everything clicked. Turkey has a very unique advantage, a strong sports culture, combined with a highly engaged gaming community, we quickly realized that phygital sport is not just a new format here, it’s a natural evolution. The biggest opportunity we saw was to position Turkey as a bridge between e-sports and traditional sports and to build a new generation of hybrid athletes.
What about the biggest challenges that you have faced in your country?
The biggest challenge has been mindset, actually. Phygital sport sits between two worlds, and both worlds initially resisted. Traditional sports saw it as too digital, while e-sports saw it as too physical.
Although there a lot of separate sporting and gaming structures in Turkey, there was nothing specific for phygital sport – no predefined leagues in Turkey, no athlete pathways and no clear monetization models yet. So we are not just organizing events, we are building the system from scratch in Turkey.
How do you engage with local authorities to support the development of phygital sport in your country?
We position phygital sport not just as entertainment, but as a strategic development tool.
When we speak with local authorities, we focus on actually three key areas: Youth engagement, digital transformation and international positioning. This offers a way to connect young people with both sports and technology, while also creating new opportunities in tourism and the creative economy.
By aligning with these priorities, we are able to build strong collaborations with municipalities and national institutions.
What specific initiatives or activities have you introduced to attract new athletes and engage your local community?
We focus heavily on providing access to try phygital sport. Instead of targeting only professional players, we design formats where anyone can participate.
We have introduced open tournaments, university leagues and community-based activations, especially in Phygital Football, Phygital Basketball and Phygital Dancing. In collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and universities, of course, we are working to expand these formats and create a structured pathway for young athletes to try phygital sport. Phygital Dancing, in particular, actually has been a powerful entry point because it connects naturally with social media and youth culture. Our goal is to turn spectators into participants.
Can you share an idea, format, or approach your team has developed that you’re especially proud of?
One thing I am especially proud of is our team itself, actually.They are extremely dynamic and able to organize at high speed, which is critical in a space that is still evolving like physical sport.
We don’t wait for perfect conditions or predefined structures. Instead, we move fast, test formats and learn in real time. This agility allowed us to successfully launch multiple disciplines, in a very short period of time.
But more importantly, it allowed us to adapt quickly based on audience reaction and continuously improve the experience. In a new category like phygital sport, speed and adaptability are not just advantages, they are the foundation of progress.
How do you explain phygital sport to people who are experiencing it for the first time, and how do you convince them to get involved?
Phygital sport is where the game doesn’t end on the screen, it continues in real life. Once people see it, they immediately understand the appeal. To convince them, we don’t explain too much, because letting them experience it is much more impactful.
You understand it by playing it.
Looking ahead, what role do you see your country playing in the global development of Games of the Future and the wider phygital movement?
We want to be a strategic hub for the phygital sport movement. Geographically and of course culturally, we are positioned between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Our ambition is not only to host events, but to contribute to the development of formats, athletes and commercial models. In the future, we want to shape phygital sport, not just participate in it. Perfect.
