The Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), organizer of the quadrennial Islamic Solidarity Games, has confirmed Malaysia as the host of the 2029 edition.
Selangor, the state that circles (but does not include) the capital of Kuala Lumpur, has been put forward to host the event, with the state capital of Shah Alam likely chosen due to its larger size.
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Malaysia will host the event for the first time in its seventh edition, becoming the second territory in Southeast Asia to do so after Indonesia staged the games in 2013.
Back in August, the ISSA confirmed that as many as five bidders had penned letters of intent to the body to bid for the right to host the games, before that number was reduced to three (including Malaysia), and the ISSA sent delegations to inspect aspects such as “technical standards, logistics, and operational readiness” to stage the event.
The ISSA has now said that those two unsuccessful candidates, Iran and Uzbekistan, have elected to support Malaysia’s bid.
Speaking on the announcement, ISSA director general Nasser Majali said: “Selangor will be the perfect place for our multisport games to showcase peace, inclusivity, and sustainability, and for ISSA athletes to shine.
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By GlobalData“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Iran and Uzbekistan for their excellent bid submissions and collaborative spirit throughout the entire process. We were delighted to have three spectacular candidates, and this reflects the importance of sport across the ISSA’s membership and the value provided by the Islamic Solidarity Games.”
The 2025 edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games began in Saudi Arabia on November 7, and the ISSA secured global broadcast coverage through a deal with sports broadcast platform DAZN.
DAZN will showcase Islamic Solidarity Games action live and free-to-air globally as part of its strategy to expand the range of its ‘freemium’ content offering.
The sixth edition of the event will run through November 21 and features 21 different sports, as well as 2 para-sports.
On the topic of broadcast rights for the nascent event, Majali spoke to a round table including Sportcal earlier in 2025, saying: “We’ve been working on [free broadcasting]. We've engaged with about 30 channels up to this point, but we want to reach more than that, because we do believe that being on at least one [network] in each one of the 57 [OIC member] countries would be ideal.
The 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games is the first under the ISSA’s new media rights approach, which has seen the body take charge of the broadcast rights, where in the past (Konya, Baku) the host nations would organize the broadcasting individually.
“There was a discussion of whether we wanted to sell broadcasting rights and have revenue, or if we wanted to give it out for free,” Majali explained. “The decision was unanimous. Across the local organizing committee, our general assembly, our board, [everyone] said we need to provide it [for free] as much as possible.”
“We want to build the brand of the games, and we want to build the brand name, so we do want to reach as much as we can reach without having any extra costs involved for anybody who wants to take it in.”
“This also gives us an advantage and more of a sustainability and funding model for future games. Higher reach, higher engagement would open up the door for better return on investment, especially through sponsorship. The return on investment would increase [with] more places for product placement for different entities that would like to sponsor.”
Read more: The Islamic Solidarity Games is finding its footing
