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Athletes have been stranded, tournaments cancelled and planned Formula 1 races in the Gulf put under threat, as the war in Iran has severely disrupted air traffic in the region.
Top tennis players including Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev were flown out of Oman after being stuck in Dubai following an ATP Tour event, while the England Lions cricket team returned home when their series in Abu Dhabi was cancelled. Formula 1 said it was monitoring the situation ahead of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia next month.
The disruption highlights how years of investment have given several countries in the Gulf a central role in international sport. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have all spent billions of dollars to establish themselves as sporting powers and attractive hosts for big international events, ranging from football and tennis to golf and boxing.
Since the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran last weekend, flights have been severely curtailed, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded across the Gulf. Tehran has responded to strikes by launching missiles and drones at neighbouring countries, and targeted hotels in popular tourist destinations.
A decision on the Formula 1 Bahrain race will need to be made soon because of the amount of time needed to transfer equipment to the country.
A Formula 1 test event by tyremaker Pirelli due to take place in Bahrain was cancelled last weekend. A plane was chartered to fly staff from the Mercedes and McLaren F1 teams from Dammam in Saudi Arabia to Cairo, with another taking them from the Egyptian city to Luton in England. The teams drove from Bahrain to Dammam.
F1 said this week: “Our next three races are in Australia, China and Japan, not in the Middle East — those races are not for a number of weeks. As always we closely monitor any situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities and will always prioritise the safety and security of all those in the sport.”
Motorsport in the region has already been affected by the outbreak of war. The World Endurance Championship cancelled its opening race in Qatar. The 10-hour, 1,812km contest was due to take place on March 26-28 on the same track as next month’s Grand Prix.
F1’s presence in the Middle East has previously been affected by the security situation. In 2022, the Grand Prix in Jeddah went ahead despite missile attacks on a nearby oil facility by Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are allied with Iran. In 2011, the Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled due to unrest during the Arab Spring.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar were added to the F1 calendar in 2021, Bahrain has been on the circuit since 2004, while Abu Dhabi joined in 2009.
There are also doubts over whether a football match slated for March 27 in Qatar between Spain and Argentina, winners of their respective continental competitions, will go ahead as planned. “At present, there are no alternative venues being considered,” European football’s governing body Uefa said on Thursday.
As the Gulf has grown more important in international sport, some of the world’s top athletes, including footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and tennis player Rafael Nadal, have become ambassadors for the region’s sporting ambitions.
However, campaign groups have branded the soft power play as “sportswashing” — an attempt to use live entertainment to distract from human rights abuses.
Saudi Arabia is due to host the 2034 Fifa World Cup, while Qatar is putting together a bid for the 2036 Olympic Games. Several big sporting events have taken place in the region already this year, including Royal Rumble, one of WWE’s top scripted wrestling fixtures.
The current security situation has already led to football matches being suspended in Israel, Qatar, and Iran, while some Asian Champions League matches due to take place in the region have been postponed.
The conflict has also raised doubts over whether Iran will be able to play in this summer’s World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada. Iran’s national team is due to face New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15, with later fixtures against Belgium and Egypt. There had already been questions around whether the Iranian squad would be granted visas given the current immigration crackdown in the US.
Asked this week whether Iran would be able to compete in the tournament, Donald Trump said: “I really don’t care.”
Additional reporting by Kana Inagaki