Biggest sports theme park in Europe to open in Hasselt this spring

The sports company Sparkx will open "the largest sports theme park in Europe" in the Flemish city of Hasselt in the spring of this year. The park will be 3,500 square metres big and offer over fifty sports, the company announced in a press release. Former Belgian Red Devil Mousa Dembélé is one of the investors in the project.

The park has been under construction since November in Plaza'H, a shopping centre in Hasselt. Visitors will be able to play traditional sports such as football, tennis and basketball, but can also discover lesser-known sports such as curling, clay pigeon shooting or sports fishing, with digital game elements. Sparkx also promises an alpine skiing simulator and a virtual F1 circuit.

The entrepreneurs behind Sparkx not only want to focus on sport, but also on health and well-being. "Our park also wants visitors to feel good about themselves mentally. Moving more helps, but incorporating healthy(er) food into your daily life and feeling good mentally can make you stronger," co-founder Mathieu Renier said in the press release.

The press release calls former footballer Mousa Dembélé and technology entrepreneur Peter Hinssen "supporters" of the sports theme park, but media reports say they have both invested money. Renier told the French-language business newspaper L'Echo that the park has around 25 investors and that "several million euros" were raised. Sparkx eventually wants to build more parks in Belgium and neighbouring countries.

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