Later this month, the FIA MENA Esports Championship will become the first-ever esports event fully sanctioned by the FIA under the International Sporting Code and Appendix E (Esports).

FIA, which is the international motorsport’s official governing body, will treat an esports competition just like a real-world race weekend. That means a race director, two international stewards, and a sporting coordinator will be officially appointed, with the FIA also writing the rulebook that defines how the competition runs.

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Niroshan Pereira, President of the FIA’s Esports Commission, stated, “We are delighted to present the FIA MENA Esports Championship, which will further raise the profile of this thriving motor sport discipline both at the regional level and on a global scale. This is an excellent example of FIA’s steadfast commitment to doubling international motor sport participation.”

The new championship carries forward the success of the MENA Esports Cup, which was first launched four years ago with support from the FIA Sport Grant Programme. Hosted annually in Amman, Jordan, the event has grown into one of the region’s biggest esports racing competitions. According to official communications, in 2024 alone, it drew more than 1,200 competitors and racked up over half a million live-stream viewers.

The FIA MENA Esports Championship itself will run from 13–15 November 2025, using the Gran Turismo 7 platform. From there, two semi-finals will determine the top 12 drivers, who’ll go head-to-head in the final showdown to be crowned the first-ever FIA-sanctioned MENA Esports Champion.

And there’s more than bragging rights on the line as the winner will receive an official invitation to the FIA Awards ceremony in Uzbekistan this December.

The surge in virtual racing isn’t just limited to the MENA region, either. Around the world, automobile giants like Porsche have also announced the 2025 season of the Esports Sprint Challenge GB. With the FIA now stepping in officially, esports racing is only going to transform from a passion project to a professional platform.