Key facts

Introduction

The world is short on play. Its organizers frame Expo 2027 Belgrade as an answer to a "permacrisis": declining mental and physical health, burnout, unequal education, weakening social cohesion, technological saturation and an underlying sustainability crisis. Their premise is simple: play is not a break from serious problems but a serious response to them.

Belgrade will host the first Expo in the Western Balkans, according to the BIE and the organizer. For 93 days, a compact 25-hectare site near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube will invite more than 130 countries to show how sport, music and play can strengthen resilience, drive innovation and bring people together. Every official participant exhibits in a pavilion module supplied by the organizer, in keeping with the rules for recognized Expos, while Serbia builds a permanent national pavilion and a new National Stadium as part of the same complex.

Theme: Play for Humanity

The theme treats play as "a human superpower": a universal activity that transcends cultures, generations and borders, and that drives both personal growth and collective progress. The Theme Guide names seven challenges play can help address, from collective mental health to the sustainability crisis.

Theme Weeks. The program narrows the sub-themes into weekly topics: play for resilience, play for the next generation, play for an active society, play for a sustainable future, play for innovators and play for peace.

Program pillars. All events, whether led by the organizer or by participants, fall under four pillars: Culture and Music, Sport, Education and Business. Organizer-led flagship projects include World Stage (traditional music and dance), Toys Can Play (bands playing toy instruments), World Games (traditional children's games from participating countries), and Ambassadors of Play.

Play for Humanity Forum. A flagship forum held across Expo venues for the full run, built on three pillars: education, business, and social impact and governance.

The bid and the vote

Serbia won the right to host the Expo of 2027/28 on June 21, 2023, at the 172nd General Assembly of the BIE, after four rounds of secret voting. Five governments competed: Serbia (Belgrade), Spain (Málaga), the United States (Minnesota), Thailand (Phuket), and Argentina (Bariloche).

The BIE counted 179 member states at the time, yet 39 cast no vote in the first round, about 22% of the membership; 14 of them voted in the second round. Choosing an Expo host is an exercise in traditional diplomacy among governments, unlike the private bodies that award the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup. The Minnesota bid opened with 19 votes and never passed 23, fewer than its bid for the Expo of 2023 received.

The site

The Expo occupies a 25-hectare exhibition site inside a 113-hectare complex on a flat greenfield southwest of Belgrade, shared with a new 52,000-seat National Stadium. The complex also holds the Expo Village, Expo Services and Expo Parking, and a central promenade links three main areas.

Serbian National Pavilion. A 3,000 square meters footprint on the east side of the promenade, with 19,000 square meters of floor area across several stories. The organizer describes it as a permanent legacy of the Expo.

Getting there. About 48% of visitors are expected to arrive by car, using roughly 11,000 spaces in 12 lots. A new urban rail line stops 850 m from Entrance B, electric and fuel-cell bus lines link the site to the airport and downtown, and a river service on the Sava delivers visitors to Entrance C. Charging stations will serve e-bikes and scooters.

Expo Village. About 1,500 furnished apartments with 3,500 beds, steps from the site, with supermarkets, restaurants and cafés, plus a planned 400-room hotel.

Playground 2027. Ahead of the opening, the organizer runs a 2,346 square meters preview venue in Hall 5 of the Belgrade Fair, with a full-scale prototype of an S pavilion and a presentation hall available to participants free of charge.

International participation

As at every recognized Expo, official participants do not build their own buildings: the organizer supplies modular pavilions, and each country designs its facade and interior. International participant pavilions total 49,248 square meters, the largest facilities on site (36,612 square meters individual, 12,636 square meters collective).

Collective pavilions group countries under shared themes such as "Asian Harmony," "African Wonders," "American Fiesta," and "Pacific Sanctuary," with about 100 square meters per country. Participants may give up to 20% of their space to restaurants and shops.

Partnership Programme. Serbia funds the participation of developing countries, covering pavilion design and construction, content, logistics, staff travel for the Section Commissioner and two staff members, National Day costs and attendance at four International Participants Meetings. Participation is by invitation, and the collective pavilions primarily house the countries it supports.

National Days. Each official participant gets a National Day on the National Day Stage, with flag-raising, anthems, official speeches, cultural performances and a visit to the Serbian Pavilion. Intergovernmental organizations receive Special Days, and International Days build multinational programs around United Nations designated days.

Benefits. Under the SEE Agreement between Serbia and the BIE, approved June 17, 2025, official participants receive free long-stay visas without separate work permits, VAT refunds, customs exemptions for non-commercial goods, and free radio frequency licenses, through December 31, 2027.

Support. Every participating country is assigned a Country Manager from a team that speaks English, French, Spanish and Serbian. A One-Stop Shop handles visas, customs, tax and pavilion approvals, and the Participants Portal offers dashboards, cost calculators and document approvals.

Organization and timeline

Three bodies run the Expo. The Government of Serbia's Coordination Team, chaired by the Minister of Finance and created July 6, 2023, oversees preparation. A Commissioner of the Exhibition, appointed by the government, represents Serbia before the BIE and participants. The state company "EXPO 2027" d.o.o. Belgrade, led by CEO Dušan Borovčanin, plans, operates and dismantles the Expo. The BIE receives 2% of gross ticket revenue.

Legacy and identity

The organizer's legacy plan centers on the permanent Serbian National Pavilion and the National Stadium beside it, and on positioning play as a lasting tool for education, collaboration and community building.