Sports in UAE
Football remains the most popular sport in the UAE.
Promotion of the sport through football clubs at schools
and colleges, as well as at local, regional and national
levels, has paid dividends in terms of raising the standard
of the game in the country.
Twenty-six football clubs, each with approximately 150
players, are currently affiliated with the UAE Football
Association (UAE FA), which was established in 1971.
The UAE FA joined FIFA in 1972, followed by both the
Arab Football and Asian Soccer federations in 1974. In
1999 Al Ain Football Club reached the semi-finals of the
Asian Club League Winners Championships. The national
team, however, had a disappointing year and is now
preparing for the year 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon.
like many
countries
around us.
things have
changing:
kids do not
football
Many
been
the
play
Camel-racing, a traditional sport, is extremely popular in
the Emirates. It was originally staged in an informal
setting, at weddings or special festivals, but now
customized tracks have been built throughout the country
where race meetings are held in the winter months from
October to April, culminating in the annual camel race
festival at Al Wathba which attracts entrants from all over
the world.
Sheikh Zayed’s sponsorship of the Zayed Grand Prize
camel races, also held at Al Wathba racetrack to celebrate
UAE National Day, is an indication of the special focus
and encouragement given to the revival of heritage sports
and camel-racing festivals as an occasion for the
gathering of UAE citizens. The necessity to formulate rules
and regulations for the sport has required the
establishment of the Camel-Racing Federation which is
now responsible for guiding and controlling camel-racing
events in the Emirates and promoting events abroad. One
such international event, the Sheikh Zayed’s President’s
Cup, held in Sydney, Australia in September 1999 for the
second consecutive year, has proved to be a popular
event which also raises considerable funds for the
Australian Research Institute for Child Cancer.
A heritage festival held at the same time around a tent
erected between the Modern Arts Museum and the
Sydney Opera Theatre attracted
large crowds.
Camel-breeding
As a result of the growth in the
popularity of camel-racing, greater
attention has been paid to the
challenges of breeding, including
application of the latest technology. The Al Ain-based
Embryo Transfer Research Center for Racing Camels,
established in 1989, has pioneered artificial insemination
and embryo transfer in camels. Associated with the
scientific research programme a well-equipped veterinary
hospital has been built, which is engaged not only in
treating sick camels but also in advising owners on the
best possible care for their animals. The Camel
Reproduction Center in Dubai has also pioneered
breeding methods and is the instigator of a cross breeding
programme which produced Rama the ‘cama’, the world's
first hybrid between a camel and llama. The center's focus
is on artificial insemination and embryo transfer and the
same techniques apply in both the ‘cama’ and camel
breeding programmes. The center is working on ways to
produce better racing camels, not necessarily faster racing
camels, but animals of better genetic stock, in addition to
improving the freezing of embryos and semen.
Horse-Racing
The horse has always been an essential part of Arab life.
Until recently, however, the relationship took the form of
an enduring partnership based upon survival in one of the
world’s toughest environments. With the arrival of
prosperity, the Emirate's relationship with the horse made
a crucial shift from survival to recreation. To day, all forms
of equestrian sport are enormously popular in the UAE,
with the pure-bred Arabian horse still
having pride of place.
In 1985 the UAE joined the Federation
Equestre International (FEI) and the
UAE Equestrian and Racing
Federation was formed in 1992 with
the clear mission to promote and
sponsor equestrian sport in the UAE. Since the
Federation’s inception, equestrian sport has become
focused and highly successful. Racing has already taken
its place on the world stage and show jumping and
endurance riding are now poised to follow its lead.
The Federation, implementing Sheikh
Zayed’s directives, hosts an auction of Arab
thoroughbreds each December to provide
opportunities for citizens to own race horses and
participate in the revival of sports associated with the
country's heritage. A number of horses trained for racing,
endurance races, polo and jumping are sold at the
auction.
for more information, visit UAE Arabian Horse Racing
Results
Endurance Riding
Endurance riding involves long-distance racing over a
gruelling course under strictly-controlled conditions for
horse and rider. Pure-bred Arab horses, bred for stamina
in inhospitable terrain over thousands of years, are
particularly suited to this demanding sport and,
consequently, it has become immensely popular in the
UAE.
Riders of international stature frequently compete in the
country: 1998 was particularly eventful since a very
successful 160-kilometre FEI World Endurance
Championship was held in the UAE in December. Most of
the top riders and horses from the world endurance riding
circuit were once again back in the UAE the following
March, four days before the Dubai World Cup, to race in a
‘champion of champions’ endurance ride. The 130kilometre FEI World's Most Preferred Endurance Ride,
organized by the Equestrian and Racing Federation,
featured winners of the world's top Endurance Rides over
the previous three years. Heading the list of riders was
1998 world endurance champion Valery Kanavy, 1997
champion Danielle Kanavy, Fausto Fiorucci of Italy (WEC
'98 second place), Daisuke Yasunaga of Japan (WEC '98
third place) and other top champions. Sheikh Rashid bin
Mohammed Al Maktoum was victorious in this tough
contest, confirming the UAE as a force to be reckoned
with in the sport of endurance riding. UAE riders also took
second and third places, with three other UAE riders
finishing in the top ten.
The UAE team regularly travels abroad to compete on the
international circuit, with much success. In fact, Sheikh
Rashid was rated fifth best in the world in 1998 by the
Endurance and Long Distance Rides International
Committee (ELDRIC) based on his performance in
Europe. In 1999 the UAE Equestrian and Racing
Federation again sent a strong team abroad to
competitions, including Syria, Landivisiau, France,
Lenzburg, Switzerland, Wicklow, Ireland and the European
Open Championship in Spain and Portugal. Eight of the
nine UAE riders who completed the FEI CEI-B 120kilometre event in Syria finished in the top 10 with Sheikh
Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum gaining the overall
prize. The team also scored a thrilling win in the FEI Open
Under-21 European Endurance Riding Championship in
Donaueschingen - Germany in August, having already
performed well in Campaigned in France and Tattersalls in
New market, England, in their first two events on the
European circuit.
At the end of August the UAE's Mubarak Shafya capped a
momentous season when, against considerable odds, he
won the 206-kilometre Wicklow Hills Endurance Ride
Maktoum Cup. Also in August, Sheikh Ahmed bin Humaid
Al Nuaimi, representing his country and the sole Middle
East competitor, won the prestigious Queensland State
Championship Endurance Ride, the first non-Australian
ever to do so.
Track-Racing
Professional racing as it is now practiced in the UAE did
not begin until the season of 1991–92. During the 1990s
the sport enjoyed phenomenal growth throughout the UA
E, and the country now boasts a number of prestigious
racing venues and hosts the world’s richest horse race,
the Dubai World Cup. A recent innovation but already one
of the most talked about races in the sport's history, the
1999 Emirates-sponsored Dubai World Cup, held at Nad
al-Sheba race course in March, had a total guaranteed
purse of US $5 million – an increase of US $1 million over
1998. Other increases in sponsorship brought the total
prize money on the night to a staggering US $6.25 million.
The 1999 event provided the Dubai-based Godolphin
stable with their greatest sporting triumph, when unfancied
Almutawakel, owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, trained by Saeed bin Suroor and ridden by
Richard Hills, won in record-breaking time. Under the
guidance of the Emirates Racing Association, horse-racing
has achieved full international status and the Dubai World
Cup has been awarded the sport’s coveted Group One
status, which places the race on a level with the Derby,
Oaks and Arc de Triomphe classics.
The UAE has also gained a wellearned reputation in international
horse-racing. In August the
Godolphin-owned Dubai Millennium
won the Prix Jacques le Marois –
the syndicate's eleventh Group One
prize in a season which included
wins with Diktat in the Prix Maurice
de Gheest, Daylami in the King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Diamond Stakes, Aljabr in the
Sussex Stakes and Zahrat Dubai in
the Nassau Stakes.