Showing 101 - 109 of 109 items, latest first
All to play for: Qatar bids for sporting glory, soft power and legacy
When hosts Qatar meet Ecuador on 20 November it will be a landmark moment in international football as it will signal the start of the first World Cup Finals to be staged in the Middle East as well as the Arab world. With its...
A tale of two gym industries: Iran & the UAE
A recent study by global health and fitness body IHRSA suggests that consumer awareness in the MENA region of the importance of sport and exercise has spiked in the last decade, and that 25% of the population spend three to five...
The PIF and LIV Golf — lessons on how to challenge the established order of world sport
Breakaway sporting competitions are almost as old as professional sport itself. Ever since 21 northern English rugby clubs set up their own League in 1895 over a row about wanting to pay their players, two codes of rugby have...
Squash and the Egyptian formula for sporting success
“Success breeds success” is a saying that is often used to explain the kind of sporting dominance enjoyed by different nations at various times over the last century: think Hungary’s “Mighty Magyars” who were at the top of world...
Soft power and the unstoppable rise of sport in the Middle East
If any doubts remained about the link between geopolitics and international sport, then the recent reaction of global sporting bodies to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has surely dispelled them....
Diligencia to focus on sport in the Middle East & Africa
Later this year one of the world’s most watched sporting events, the FIFA World Cup, will be hosted in the Middle East for the first time, in Qatar....
Bids for Chelsea FC: who are the ‘Saudi Media Group’?
Roman Abramovich’s decision to put Chelsea Football Club up for sale (shortly before he was sanctioned by the UK government for his links to Russian president Vladimir Putin) has already attracted a number of potential buyers....
Sheikh Khalid closes in on Newcastle United
The Abu Dhabi ruling family may be set to continue its love affair with the English Premier League, as reports suggest that Sheikh Khalid bin Zayed Al Nahyan is in talks to acquire club side Newcastle United. Although the deal is...
Sporting passions in MENA – Motorsport
In 1977 Frank Williams, then owner of a fledgling Formula 1 racing team, took the unusual step at that time of travelling to Saudi Arabia in search of sponsorship....