Post-rallying
Mohammed Ben Sulayem is the President of the Automobile and Touring Club of the United Arab Emirates (ATCUAE), FIA Vice-President for Sport, and Chairman of the Institute for Sport Research UAE.
Sulayem has been appointed by the FIA and FIM as the official representative to oversee all motorsports events in the UAE. He is also Chairman of the Organising Committee for the ppAbu Dhabi Desert Challenge ``, formerly the UAE Desert Challenge, a rally raid race that he founded in 1991. The event has since become the first round of the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup.
He is a founding member of the Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs, which aims to unite the FIA Clubs of Arabic-speaking territories.
In 2008 he was appointed Vice President of the FIA and a member of the World Motor Sport Council. The FIA is the global sporting authority for motorsport and represents 100 million car owners in almost 200 countries.
Apart from motor sport, Mr. Ben Sulayem is actively involved with social causes lending his name to fund-raising events and endorsing brands where the proceeds are forwarded to pre-selected foundations and institutes. Despite his passion for motor sport, Mr. Ben Sulayem is very conscious of the dangers of speeding and has been in the forefront championing the cause of road safety not just in the region but worldwide.
Ben Sulayem is a keen advocate of education and the creation of knowledge in sport. In 2010 in conjunction with the University of Ulster he established the Institute of Sports Research which allows people working in motorsport and other sports to pursue post graduate degrees by research. Currently the Institute has a number of candidates for both Masters and PhD degrees mainly in the broad of motorsport management. He is also co-editor of Sports Management in the Middle East the first academic book to be published on the subject where Ben Sulayem also wrote the chapter on Governance and Ethics in sport.
In recognition of his contribution to the sport and for serving as a role model for Arab youth, Mr Ben Sulayem was declared the UAE’s Sportsman of the Century by the respected international news agency, Agence France-Presse in 1991.
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