FAI Drone Sports
After two long years of pandemic, drone sports are growing as fast as ever with exciting initiatives springing up around the world. On the competition scene, pilots can once again compete at an international level, and the next FAI World Drone Racing Championship is planned for 2023.
Long live drone sports!
FAI World Drone Racing Championship
FAI has awarded the 2023 FAI World Drone Racing Championship to Korea. It is the biggest competition of its kind, offering an arena for the world’s best pilots to pit their skills against one another.
The Championship will take place from 6 to 9 October 2023 at the Chunhyangol Stadium in Namwon city, about two hours south of Seoul.
FAI Drone Racing World Cup
The FAI Drone Racing World Cup made a happy come-back in 2022.
MinJae Kim, a fourteen-year-old junior pilot from Korea, is the winner of this year’s edition with 114 points, followed by his fellow citizen junior Minseo Lee (91 pts), and Dimo Shterve of Bulgaria (88 pts).
A total of 171 pilots participated in eight contests organised in as many different countries. The number of juniors is particularly striking (52), which proves once again how popular the sport is among youngsters. However, it is still largely represented by men, as shows the modest number of women (5).
Not surprisingly, the uncertainties around the pandemic caused a drop in the number of competitons and competitors in 2022, but 2023 is expected to see fast-rising figures once again. Stay tuned!
Drone Soccer
Drone Soccer is also on a high trend with new competition concepts being tested in various countries.
Its addition to the Sporting Code as a provisional class in May 2019 prepared the ground for official competitions, and 2023 will see the first FAI Open International competitions registered to the FAI Events Calendar.
