For a couple of years now, the same question keeps coming up in the CrossFit community: will the Games finally cross the Atlantic? Is the biggest CrossFit event in the world about to land in Europe? The idea isn't baseless speculation. It comes from a specific statement by Dave Castro, CrossFit's General Manager of Sport, who has been hinting since 2023 that Europe is on the map. The problem is that, since then, that promise hasn't been confirmed or denied.
So instead of speculating, we did what we do best: gathered the real, chronological, verifiable data and let you draw your own conclusions.
What Dave Castro Said
November 2023. In a 40-plus-minute interview for the Danish podcast Fitness På Tid, Castro explained why CrossFit had handed off the Masters, Teens, and Adaptive divisions to other organizations. According to him, that change reduced the logistical demands of the Games and opened the door to taking them outside the United States "in 3 or 4 years."
July 2024. In an interview with athlete Laura Horvath, Castro went further and put a date on it. Asked whether they were still thinking about bringing the Games to Europe, he said yes, that was the plan. He went as far as saying: "I would like the 21st year of the Games to be in Europe." The first CrossFit Games took place in 2007, which makes year 21 fall in 2027.
Since then. Silence. We haven't found any public statement since, not in podcasts, not in Castro's weekly Week in Review, not in interviews from 2025 or 2026, confirming, qualifying, or walking back that plan.
What Has Actually Happened With the Games Venue
This is the part worth looking at closely. Castro also said in 2024 that he planned to stay in Fort Worth "for a couple of years, at least." Here's what actually happened:
| Year | Venue | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Fort Worth, Texas | United States |
| 2025 | Albany, New York | United States |
| 2026 | San Jose, California | United States |
| 2027 | Not announced yet | ? |
The promise of staying "a couple of years" in Fort Worth broke the very next year. As of today, the only official information about the 2027 season is the Open schedule (Workout 27.1: February 18, Workout 27.2: February 25, and Workout 27.3: March 4, 2027), released right after the San Jose Games wrapped up. No mention of Europe.
The Real Turn: What Happened With the 2026 Open
If we look at the Games venues, everything suggests Europe is still just an intention. But if we look at the Open, the most visible and massive phase of the season, there's a data point that can't be ignored.
Here's where each Open workout announcement was held over the last four seasons:
| Season | Workout 1 | Workout 2 | Workout 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Caja Mágica, Madrid | Midland Park, New Jersey | Omaha, Nebraska |
| 2024 | Pleasanton, California | Boise, Idaho | Nashville, Tennessee |
| 2025 | Cookeville, Tennessee | Peoria, Arizona | Glenmont, New York |
| 2026 | Moffett, California | Cascais, Portugal | Miami Beach, Florida |
Nine straight announcements on US soil since 23.1, which was held in Madrid. And in 2026, for the second time in this recent stretch, one was held in Europe: Workout 26.2, broadcast live from CrossFit Black Edition, in Cascais, Portugal.
What's more, VELITES was proud to be the Official Partner of that announcement. We saw it up close, and we can say with certainty that it was a great event: elite athletes competing live, international reach, and the same level of anticipation as any announcement held in the United States.
We don't know whether this reflects a deliberate plan to internationalize the Open or was a one-off decision for that season. What we do know for a fact is that, after two years without leaving the United States, the first announcement to do so took place on European soil.
Semifinals: Europe Is Already Familiar Ground
One tier below the Games, the Semifinals have long pointed to Europe as a fixed spot on the calendar:
- 2023: Semifinals held in Madrid and Berlin.
- 2024: European Semifinal organized by French Throwdown.
- 2025: European Elite Semifinal in Málaga, with an earlier stage in Córdoba, as part of the Wodland Festival.
- 2026: MAD Fitness Festival, in Ciudad Real.
Going further back, to the Regionals era (pre-2019), Europe had already hosted major events: Madrid held the CrossFit Meridian Regional in 2016 and 2017, Berlin hosted the CrossFit Europe Regional in 2019, and Amsterdam hosted the Lowlands Throwdown as the European Semifinal in 2022.
Spain, Germany, and France have taken turns hosting the European Semifinal for four years running. Whether or not that's a sign of something bigger, it's the most solid pattern of continuity that exists.
What We Can't Claim
A note on transparency: you'll find plenty of numbers online about which countries have the most CrossFit affiliates in Europe. We're not using any of them here, because CrossFit, LLC doesn't publish an official country-by-country ranking, and the figures floating around, from fitness blogs rather than CrossFit itself, contradict each other. We'd rather not hand you a number we can't stand behind.
So, Are the Games Coming to Europe in 2027?
Based on what we have today:
- A specific promise from Dave Castro, made in 2024, with no confirmation or denial since.
- A Games venue history that, so far, hasn't left the United States.
- An Open that, for the first time in 2026, did cross the Atlantic.
- Semifinals that have run for several straight years in Spain, France, or Germany.
Nothing is set in stone. Just data, but data that's pointing more and more toward Europe.
So: draw your own conclusions.
