// Drone Racing
FAI Drone Racing World Cup 2026: Calendar, Rules and How the Series Works
The FAI Drone Racing World Cup is the closest thing FPV racing has to a tennis tour: 14 stops in 2026, open entry and a world ranking. The calendar, and how it works.
Think of the FAI Drone Racing World Cup as a tennis tour for FPV pilots. There is no league, no franchise and no national team. There is a calendar of 14 sanctioned races across Asia and Europe in 2026, with open entry for licensed pilots. A season-long ranking decides who is the best in the world.
The series is run by the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale), the world body for air sports. Its 2026 season is entering its final stretch, with Seoul (October 23–24) and Macao still to come.
FAI Drone Racing World Cup 2026 calendar
The official 2026 World Cup page lists these events:
| Event | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| PIHABF Drone Racing World Cup | Capas, Tarlac, Philippines | Feb 13–15 |
| Aircrasher FAI Worldcup | Aichtal, Germany | May 15–17 |
| Xiaoliu Drone Racing World Cup | Ningbo, China | May 28–31 |
| Korea Drone Racing World Cup | Seoul, South Korea | Jun 5–7 |
| Belgian FAI Drone Cup | Florennes, Belgium | Jun 27–28 |
| Trofeo F9U World Cup Italia | Varese, Italy | Jul 11–12 |
| KDC Sofia Cup | Sofia, Bulgaria | Jul 18–19 |
| DX Racing | Bela Crkva, Serbia | Jul 25–26 |
| DRSK FAI | Pravenec, Slovakia | Aug 7–9 |
| Türkiye Drone Race World Cup | Istanbul, Türkiye | Sep 5–6 |
| Changchun Drone Racing World Cup | Changchun, China | Sep 25–28 |
| World Cup Tenerife F9 | Tenerife, Spain | Oct 10–11 |
| Seoul Drone Racing World Cup | Hangang Drone Park, Seoul | Oct 23–24 |
| Macao Drone Racing World Cup | The Venetian Arena, Macao | Late 2026 (check FAI for final dates) |
Three planned stops fell away. Paris and Hong Kong were canceled by their organizers, and an event in Israel was excluded from the ranking because only Israeli pilots took part.
Seoul: the next stop
The Seoul International Drone Racing World Cup, now in its second year, runs at Gwangnaru Hangang Drone Park on October 23–24. The Korea Times reports about 60 pilots from 10 countries, with qualifying rounds feeding a single-elimination final. The winner gets 5 million won (about US$3,600) plus the Seoul Mayor’s Award. A Korea-China-Japan drone soccer cup runs alongside.
It is built for families as much as for pilots. Visitors can try drone basketball, drone fishing and racing simulators, and children can assemble drones and write simple flight code. City organizers are running a joint on-site command center, keeping flight zones and viewing areas separate.
How the Drone Racing World Cup works
- Rules: races follow F9U (Drone Racing) class rules in the FAI Sporting Code, Volume F9, with World Cup rules in Annex D.
- Entry: any pilot with an FAI Sporting Licence or FAI Drone Permission can score ranking points.
- Individual only: World Cup events are FAI second-category competitions. There are no national teams.
- Host limits: each country can run two World Cup events a year. Countries spanning more than three time zones can run one per zone, up to four.
The FAI updates the World Cup ranking through the season. Its September 23 update counted ten valid events. That ranking, together with the FAI World Drone Racing Championships, also served as the qualification route for drone racing at The World Games 2025, where Japan’s Yuki Hashimoto took gold.
The virtual World Cup
The FAI runs a second, online series. The E-Drone Racing World Cup, launched in 2024, is flown from home on a Windows PC with a game controller through the EreaDrone platform. The 2026 series has seven events and opened with the Mirror Cup on May 23. The top three in the season standings receive FAI medals and diplomas.
Simulator racing matters more than it sounds. The Drone Champions League now runs its whole team championship in its own simulator, and many top real-world pilots built their skills on one.
Pilots to watch
- Yuki Hashimoto (Japan): World Games gold medalist in 2025, a two-time MultiGP World Cup champion and the 2025 MultiGP European champion.
- Minjae Kim (South Korea): won MultiGP’s 2026 World Cup and European Championship, then took third at the MultiGP Championship.
- Chun Yan Kwan (Hong Kong, China): World Games silver medalist at 17.
- Killian Rousseau (France): runner-up at the 2026 MultiGP Championship.
Asian pilots dominate the top of the sport, and the World Cup calendar reflects it: five of the 14 events in 2026 were in China, Korea or Macao.
World Cup vs the other big titles
The World Cup is one of several titles an elite FPV pilot chases in a season:
- FAI World Drone Racing Championships: a single event for national teams and individuals.
- FAI Drone Racing World Cup: the season-long ranking covered here.
- MultiGP Championship: the open-class title in the US. South Korea’s Minchan “MCK” Kim won it in October 2026.
- Autonomous series: races where the pilot is software, covered in our A2RL drone championship recap.
How to follow the series
The FAI publishes the calendar, results and ranking updates on its World Cup page, and individual organizers stream many events on their own channels. Because each stop is run locally, coverage quality varies a lot: a city-backed event like Seoul or Macao looks very different from a club race in Slovakia. The ranking spreadsheet is the most reliable way to see who is winning the season.
Can you bet on the Drone Racing World Cup?
No. The FAI World Cup has no betting partner, US state-regulated sportsbooks do not list its races and UK bookmakers do not price it. Fields of 60 amateur and semi-pro pilots, short heats and limited live data make it hard for any operator to set a line.
For the drone markets that do exist, see our UK drone betting sites guide. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
FAQ
What is the FAI Drone Racing World Cup?
It is a season-long series of individually sanctioned FPV drone races run under FAI F9U class rules. Results from each stop feed a world ranking, and there are no national teams.
How many Drone Racing World Cup events are there in 2026?
The FAI calendar lists 14 events in 2026, from Capas in the Philippines in February to Macao in the final weeks of the year. Ten had been completed by the September 23 ranking update.
Who can enter a Drone Racing World Cup race?
Any pilot with a valid FAI Sporting Licence or FAI Drone Permission is eligible for the ranking. Each country can host up to two World Cup events a year, or up to four if it spans several time zones.
Is there a virtual Drone Racing World Cup?
Yes. The FAI E-Drone Racing World Cup, launched in 2024, is raced remotely on a PC through the EreaDrone platform. The 2026 series has seven events and opened with the Mirror Cup on May 23.
Can you bet on the Drone Racing World Cup?
Not with US state-regulated sportsbooks, which do not list FAI drone racing markets. UK bookmakers do not price the series either.
