Energy for Sport: Chelyabinsk's Phygital Center Powers Up
Rosseti Ural has completed the grid connection of the first phygital center in Russia's Chelyabinsk Region. Bringing the facility online marks an important step in the development of modern sports infrastructure, where advanced technologies are being deployed to benefit local communities.
Phygital sport represents a new approach to engaging young people in healthy lifestyles by combining traditional athletics with digital competition. The next-generation venue, a phygital center, opened in Chelyabinsk late last year. It has now received the electrical capacity needed for full-scale operation.
Power Built to Match Demand
The complex includes dedicated areas for physical sports alongside a separate modular building housing esports facilities. The digital zone features a computer gaming hall with 20 stations, a console gaming area, and a virtual reality zone. The building also contains supporting infrastructure, including locker rooms with showers, a medical office, a food court, coaches' facilities, and a server room for the site's IT systems.
To support the center's operation, engineers from the Chelyabinsk branch of Rosseti Ural built two 0.4 kV cable power lines with a combined length of approximately 500 meters. They also upgraded a 6 kV transformer substation and installed two commercial electricity metering systems equipped with high-precision electronic interval meters. As a result, the facility received its requested capacity of 160 kW, fully covering the center's operational requirements.
How New Technologies Are Reshaping Sports
The All-Russian Federation of Phygital Sports lists promotion of hybrid competition formats, attracting new athletes, and building and modernizing sports infrastructure among its key objectives.
The Chelyabinsk center creates new opportunities for young people and athletes across the region.
"We are looking at a thoroughly modern facility. Inside, every condition has been created for the development of digital sports, while outside there are workout areas, a football field, and a basketball court that support the physical side of phygital competition. For children, this is an opportunity to combine an interest in digital technologies with physical activity. That is the core idea - bringing sport together with the technologies of the future in a single format," said Chelyabinsk Region Governor Alexey Teksler.
The lead contractor for the project was Russian IT company Sitronics Group. Its specialists developed an information portal that provides equipment-use instructions and real-time information about facility occupancy. AI-powered analytics are used to evaluate operational effectiveness: the video surveillance system collects statistics on attendance and athlete activity while also helping maintain security across the phygital center.
"Phygital centers are a response to changing lifestyles. Here, digital technologies are used to increase participation in sports, improve safety, and make training more comfortable. We are pleased that Chelyabinsk now has its first next-generation sports center built with our involvement," said Sitronics Group President Alexey Marukhin.
Plans Call for 300 New Phygital Centers
At the end of 2024, the Russian government approved a development strategy for the phygital movement that calls for at least 300 phygital centers to be operating nationwide by 2030. Chelyabinsk is contributing to the creation of a new infrastructure for mass-participation sports and digital recreation.
Over the coming years, phygital centers are expected to evolve into hybrids of sports venues, youth technology hubs, and digital leisure centers. The strongest opportunities are likely to emerge in regions where phygital infrastructure is connected to universities, schools, sports federations, esports clubs, and workforce training programs.
The need to equip these facilities with modern technologies creates significant opportunities for Russian IT companies, generating additional demand for hardware, software, networking solutions, VR and AR technologies, gaming platforms, sports analytics tools, and facility management services.
