As organisations across the UAE prepare for a surge in teambuilding events this autumn, Dubai’s iconic
outdoor venue and the region’s employee-engagement specialist join forces. Two flagship public events on
30 and 31 October open a year-round calendar built around wellbeing, team building, and measurable
impact.
DUBAI, UAE. The Sevens Stadium, Dubai’s premier outdoor sports and events venue, and Herculean Alliance,
the employee-engagement specialist behind the Hercules Trophy, Pink Ladies Games and Bravos, today
announced their collaboration that establishes The Sevens Stadium as the home of corporate employee
engagement experiences in the UAE.
The partnership responds to rising demand. With many organisations having postponed their people events
earlier in the year, Herculean Alliance anticipates an exceptional surge in bookings for team events, leadership
retreats, well-being programs and corporate family days across the final quarter of 2026, as companies look to
bring their people together, re-energise their teams and close the year on a high.
“We are seeing a clear trend,” said Yves Vekemans, Co-founder of Herculean Alliance. “Organisations
across the UAE are looking to bring their people together this autumn, often after a busy and demanding
year. The question is no longer whether to invest in a team experience, but how to make it truly
worthwhile, and where.”
From decision to delivery for organisations
This is where many organisations face their biggest challenge. Once an organisation decides to take action, a
series of questions quickly follows: Where should it be held? How can it be organised when internal
departments are already stretched thin? And how do you create something original and engaging enough that
people genuinely look forward to it — and remember it long afterwards? Increasingly, leaders want hard data
to show for it: who took part, how engagement moved, and what the day actually changed, measured rather
than assumed.
The collaboration between The Sevens Stadium and Herculean Alliance is designed to answer all of these in
one place.
Not a typical team event
What sets Herculean Alliance apart is the nature of its experiences. Rather than conventional teambuilding, its
formats bring together wellbeing and friendly competition in a feel-good, non-athletic atmosphere built on
zero judgement. Teams compete across a series of unique fifteen-minute battles that combine teamwork,
speed and strategy, welcoming all fitness levels, body shapes and nationalities. In a country home to more than
200 nationalities, this inclusivity is not a detail but the point.
“Put people in a game and within fifteen minutes you see what a year of meetings will not show you,” said
Vekemans. “As Plato said, you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of
conversation. Our experiences are designed to reveal the best in people, and to bring them closer together.”
Tornea: the engine that turns one day into a year
The experience begins long before the event, and never really has to end. Through Tornea, Herculean Alliance’s
proprietary engagement platform, teams build their identity, take on challenges and connect in the weeks
before the day, arriving already invested. The same platform can carry a full year of wellbeing and engagement
activity, turning a single event into an ongoing programme.
Recently revamped by an in-house Gen Z team, Tornea is turnkey, genuinely engaging and built on real
gamification, not a survey dressed up as an app. It captures participation, connection and wellbeing
throughout, giving leaders hard data on how their people engaged and what shifted, evidence they can show
and act on.
Two flagship events show what is possible
The collaboration will be showcased through two public events at The Sevens Stadium this autumn.
The Hercules Trophy, on Friday 30 October 2026, brings corporate teams together for an afternoon of intercompany competition and celebration: a feel-good, non-athletic challenge where teams battle across unique
fifteen-minute games built on teamwork, speed, strategy and zero judgement. (https://herculestrophy.ae)
The Pink Ladies Games, on Saturday 31 October 2026, now in its fifth UAE edition and endorsed by the Dubai
Fitness Challenge, is a women’s lifestyle morning bringing together wellbeing, friendly competition and a
shared cause. For participating companies it offers something rare: a CSR cause lived on the ground rather than
reported, and diversity and inclusion made visible, with their own women out front and comfortable. It
doubles as employer branding, captured during Pink Month, and as ESG contribution aligned to the UN
Sustainable Development Goals, with proof that can actually be shown. Above all, it is a morning their people
still talk about long afterwards. (https://pinkladiesgames.ae)
The Pink Ladies Games also features a marketplace of local businesses, offering founders the chance to reach
hundreds of engaged participants in a single day, a reflection of the partnership’s commitment to the wider
UAE community.
Why The Sevens Stadium
As a destination built for shared experiences, The Sevens Stadium is home to some of Dubai’s biggest sporting,
entertainment and community events; from the Emirates Dubai 7s and global music concerts, to youth fitness
events and corporate gatherings.
This collaboration will further strengthen the venue’s growing position as a destination for UAE businesses
looking to offer immersive and bespoke events to their workforce, with the space, facilities and expertise to
available to deliver experiences of all scale.
Matthew Burn, Operations Manager at The Sevens Stadium said “The Sevens Stadium has always been about
bringing people together, whether that’s through sport, entertainment or shared experiences, so this
collaboration with Herculean Alliance feels like a natural fit. With the scale and flexibility of our venue,
combined with Herculean Alliance’s expertise in employee engagement, we’re looking forward to creating
memorable experiences for UAE businesses.”
A relationship built over fifteen years
Herculean Alliance first brought its Hercules Trophy to The Sevens Stadium in 2011, and over the years
organisations including Accenture, Estée Lauder, Emirates Global Aluminium, Daman Health, Al Tayer and
many others have taken part.
Herculean Alliance brings 27 years of experience, more than 2,000 companies, 14,000 teams and 77,000
participants across 10 countries. The context is compelling: Gallup research indicates that around 80% of
employees worldwide are not engaged at work, representing an estimated USD 8.8 trillion in lost productivity
each year.
Bookings
Organisations interested in the October events or in private team experiences at The Sevens Stadium from 5 to
+1000 people can book through Herculean Alliance (https://herculeanalliance.com ·
yves.vekemans@herculeanalliance.com · +971 58 593 7468) or directly through The Sevens Stadium.
About The Sevens Stadium
The Sevens Stadium is Dubai’s home of sport, entertainment and events. Purpose-built to host world-class
experiences, the venue brings together elite competition, community participation, corporate hospitality and live
entertainment across one destination.
Home to the internationally renowned Emirates Dubai 7s, The Sevens Stadium welcomes hundreds of thousands of
visitors each year and hosts a year-round calendar of sporting tournaments, fitness events, concerts, business
gatherings, community activities and private celebrations.
Located just 30 minutes from Downtown Dubai and Dubai International Airport, the venue features multiple
international-standard playing fields, cricket ovals, netball courts, padel facilities, premium hospitality spaces and
flexible event venues, making it one of the UAE’s leading destinations for sport, business and entertainment.
About Herculean Alliance
Founded in 1999 in Belgium and now headquartered in Dubai, Herculean Alliance helps organisations turn
engagement into performance. Since the pandemic, the company has pivoted decisively: combining technology
and a corporate background with years of working alongside executives, academic research, gamification and
corporate communications. That combination is what positions Herculean Alliance to disrupt the wider
engagement and leadership market, not with another survey or another away-day, but with experiences and
data that actually change how people perform. Its work spans four pillars, Advisory, Events, Technology and
Formats, and its formats include the Hercules Trophy, Bravos! Employee Engagement Awards and Pink Ladies
Games. Learn more at herculeanalliance.com.
Press contacts
The Sevens Stadium — Jen Cook jen@thebrillcollective.com
Herculean Alliance
Yves Vekemans, Co-founder · yves.vekemans@herculeanalliance.com · +971 58 593 7468
Inge Van Belle, Co-founder · inge.van.belle@herculeanalliance.com · +971 58 562 0092
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