Madrid in Game and MADCUP 2025 join forces for the third edition of ‘Esports + Sports’, the event that fuses sport and video games

Madrid in GameMadrid City Council’s initiative to boost the gaming industry in the city. gaming in the capital, celebrates the June 20 to 25 a new edition of ‘Esports + Sports’his proposal phygital which combines traditional sports with esports. The third installment of the event will take place within the framework of the MADCUPthe major international grassroots soccer tournament that will bring together more than 15,000 soccer players between the ages of 7 and 19 in Madrid..

During five days, Madrid in Game will deploy a zone gaming at the Centro Deportivo del Atlético de Madrid in Alcalá de Henares, where the participants of the MADCUP will be able to enjoy virtual soccer tournaments, alternating between the playing field and the console.. Under the slogan “Make yourself a double! Score on the field and score on the console!“This initiative was born to encourage the development of motor and technological skills.promoting physical activity and esports culture, fostering values such as teamwork, the creation of strategies in real time, skills in new technologies and gamification.

In addition to the presence of Madrid in Game at the Centro Deportivo del Atlético de Madrid, the Monday, June 23 a special activation will take place at the Metropolitano Stadium on the occasion of the Hobby Day. In this massive event, which will be attended by the MADCUP participating teams and their families, Madrid in Game will be present with its mobile unit with challenges and soccer challenges in esports format to bring the universe of video games to the family and sports environment.

The initiative ‘Esports + Sportswas launched in 2023 as a pioneering initiative of the Madrid City Council. Its most recent edition, centered on basketball, combined on-court matches with virtual confrontations in the NBA2K videogame. and was structured around a qualifying phase and a grand finale held at the Plaza de Colón. In total, more than 1,200 people participated in the experience.which turned this emblematic space in the center of Madrid into a competition area of more than 800 m2where the physical and the digital coexisted in perfect harmony.

This new edition, focused for the first time on soccerIn the words of Ángel Niño, Councilman Delegate for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Madrid City Council, “the union of MADCUP and Madrid in Game reinforces Madrid’s position as a center for innovative events and a benchmark in the integration of real and virtual sports”.

MADCUP and Madrid in Game: the union of real and virtual soccer in Madrid

The MADCUP is an international grassroots soccer tournament, consolidated in only five editions as a one of the most important in the world in its category.. Since its birth in 2021, the competition has grown exponentially: in 2024 it counted the participation of 809 teams from 34 countries. In the 2025 edition, more than 840 teams from over 40 countries are expected to participate in what has become a fixed date for clubs, academies and families from all continents.

MADCUP bets on combining high level sport with education in values, inclusion and coexistence. between young soccer players from different backgrounds. It not only tests the technical and tactical skills of the participants, but also fosters respect, cultural integration and personal development. The MADCUP positions Madrid as a center for innovative events and a benchmark in Europe. Madrid in Game, with its collaboration in the tournament, positions itself as a reference event in the sporting territory, being an exceptional showcase to show the progress made by the initiative of the consistory since its opening in 2022.