The first batch of competition arrangements in Hangzhou in 2026 were released yesterday. The first batch of competitions at the district and county level and above will include 200 and more than 40 “national-titled” competitions.
Big names on the badminton tour are gathering, Zhejiang BA basketball is hotly contested, and the football league is in full swing… In the past year, sports events in Hangzhou have blossomed in full bloom, with many developments in events, economy, and tourism. At the beginning of the new year, what exciting things will be staged? Yesterday afternoon, the 2026 Hangzhou event press conference “Rising Tides – Games in Hangzhou” was held at the Hangzhou Asian Games Museum Theater. At the scene, the Hangzhou Municipal Sports Bureau released a series of “report cards.”
Three data sets hit record highs
How “hardcore” is Hangzhou’s sports strength?
How “hardcore” will Hangzhou’s sports strength be in 2025? Let’s first look at a set of data: The city held a total of 616 events at district and county level or above, including 34 international events and 107 national events. All three data reached record highs. The strong atmosphere for hosting games has enabled Hangzhou to rank third in the country in the Global Sports City Index for three consecutive years and among the top 50 in the world for two consecutive years.
“70588”, many people must still remember this number. In the third stage of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Asian Qualifiers between the Chinese team and the Australian team, the “Big Lotus” set a Chinese football match attendance record with “70588” people on site, driving consumption of 308 million yuan, creating a Hangzhou sample of “event economy”. At the end of last year, the 2025 Badminton World Tour kicked off. In less than a week, it generated a total consumption of 196 million yuan.
International competitions have repeatedly achieved great results, and mass sports are no less impressive. In Hangzhou today, arranging a game for yourself after get off work has become a new trend, and the national sports ecology of “weekly activities and monthly events” has become a common practice.
Take the Zhejiang Basketball Association as an example. Since the start of the season in July, the “basketball fire” has not stopped. The Hangzhou team broke through the siege and overcame all obstacles to reach the finals. A series of “grassroots” players became the “wild spokesmen” of their hometown’s cultural tourism by virtue of their performance on the court. Outside the stadium, watching football matches and visiting markets are commonplace. A ticket has become a new link connecting people’s daily necessities, food, housing and transportation, directly or indirectly driving new cultural and tourism consumption scenarios.
What is gratifying to see is that after the Zhejiang BA, the Hangzhou City Football League is also in full swing. In the future, it will form a four-level competition system covering “city, district, town, and village”. Mass events such as crossing the Qiantang River, the “Super Saturday” People’s Games, and the Hangzhou Women’s Half Marathon reach millions of citizens throughout the year.
More than 40 “national prefix” competition plans unveiled
Organized thousands of mass events of various types
The early hard work has yielded fruitful results, and what is even more exciting is that in 2026, Hangzhou’s sports industry will continue to develop.
At the scene, the “2026 Hangzhou Sports Event List (First Batch)” was released. Judging from the existing competition items, there are more than 200 events at the district and county level or above that have been first unveiled, including more than 40 international and national events.
“According to the current plan, on the basis of continuing to successfully host international events such as the Badminton World Tour, Tennis Open, and golf tournaments, we will also introduce some new events.” Liu Jian, deputy director of the Hangzhou Municipal Sports Bureau, revealed.
How busy are Hangzhou sports fans this year? Starting from this month, competitions will be launched one after another.
In February, the 2026 FIE Youth Women’s Epee World Cup, one of the FIE’s important high-level events in the 2026 calendar, will be held in Hangzhou for the first time.
In June, a number of domestic swimming stars will gather in Hangzhou for the 2026 National Swimming Championships, which is the highest-level domestic swimming event and the only qualifying event for the Nagoya Asian Games. Athletes will stage a “white stripe” competition at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Natatorium.
In July, the 2026 ISSF All-Sports Shooting World Cup settled in Fuyang. As the last World Cup before the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games, this event has attracted the attention of various national teams, especially Asian national teams, with high competitive levels and wide international influence.
In September, the Hangzhou Tennis Open, the first men’s professional tennis event held in Zhejiang Province and one of the only two ATP250 events in China, will meet fans and friends at Little Lotus for the third consecutive year.
During the National Day holiday in October, the newly upgraded ICF Hangzhou Super Cup allows every participant to not only feel the speed and passion of cutting through the waves, but also appreciate the oriental aesthetics of “people walking in paintings”. The Hangzhou Golf Open West Lake Swing is a jointly certified event between the China Tour and the European Tour Challenge.
In December, the BWF World Tour Finals was held for the fourth consecutive year, setting off another year-end craze in the world badminton world.
In terms of building a local sports IP event brand, this year, 11 marathon events, represented by the Hangzhou Marathon and the Hangzhou Women’s Half Marathon, will continue to meet citizens and friends. At the same time, Hangzhou will also improve the local event operation system on the basis of Zhejiang BA and Hangzhou City Football League, and continue to hold classic mass events such as crossing the Qiantang River. Over a thousand mass events of various types are planned throughout the year.
(Original title: The first batch of competition arrangements in Hangzhou in 2026 were released yesterday. The first batch of competitions at the district and county level and above will reach 200 and more than 40 “national-titled” competitions will be unveiled)
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