Sports
Football is the most popular sport in the UAE. Emirati football clubs Al-Ain, Al-Wasl, Al-Shabbab ACD, Al-Sharjah, Al-Wahda, and Al-Ahli are the most popular teams and enjoy the reputation of long-time regional champions. The great rivalries keep the streets of the UAE energized as people fill the streets when their favorite team wins. The United Arab Emirates Football Association was first established in 1971, and since then has dedicated its time and effort to promoting the game, organizing youth competitions and improving the abilities of not only its players, but of the officials and coaches involved with its regional teams. The UAE national football team qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1990 with Egypt. It was the third consecutive World Cup with two Arab nations qualifying, after Kuwait and Algeria in 1982, and Iraq and Algeria again in 1986. The UAE also recently won the Gulf Cup of Nations held in Abu Dhabi in January 2007.
Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the UAE, largely due to the expatriate population from the Indian subcontinent. The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in Sharjah has hosted four international test cricket matches so far. Sheikh Zayed Stadium and Al Jazira Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi also hosted international cricket. Dubai has two cricket stadiums (Dubai Cricket Ground No.1 and No.2) with a third, S3 currently under construction as part of Dubai Sports City. Dubai is also home to the International Cricket Council. The UAE national cricket team qualified for the 1996 Cricket World Cup and narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Other popular sports include camel racing, falconry, endurance riding, and tennis.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of The United Arab Emirates
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Guys do not have a genetic blueprint that allows them to understand or love sports.”
—Lesley Visser, U.S. sports reporter and announcer. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 82 (June 17, 1991)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)