If the MENA region wants to unlock its youth potential, it should look to sports
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are having a sports renaissance—with profound effects for the region.
The MENA region (particularly Gulf countries) continues to make significant strides in gaining influence in the global sports market; this will not be slowing down anytime soon. From the rapid rise of the Saudi Pro League (which brought international soccer legends such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., and Karim Benzema to the kingdom) to the expansion of Formula 1 across the Gulf, the MENA region finds itself in a golden age of sports.
The potential power of this renaissance is best reflected in Morocco’s historic 2022 Cinderella run to the World Cup semifinals in Qatar. It captivated the entire world, and people from all across the MENA region united in celebration after witnessing Morocco knock out powerhouses Spain and Portugal from soccer’s biggest stage. Few forces possess the ability to bring nations together as sports can.
Sports are not only a part of the rich cultural fabric of the region; they can also serve as an economic and social lifeline for the region’s youth and their futures. Thus, governments should look to the region’s sports sector to unlock the region’s youth potential.
Unleashing talent
Several MENA countries have recognized the importance of investing in youth sports; among them, Gulf countries have been some of the most active in standing up new initiatives. Saudi Arabia said in 2016 that it aimed to increase sports participation from 13 to 40 percent by 2030; it already surpassed that target in 2022, with a participation rate of 48 percent. Notably, women’s sports participation significantly grew, with over fifty thousand girls joining sports programs since 2015, representing a 149 percent increase. This growth has been accompanied by a tripling in the number of sports federations, which grew from thirty-two in 2015 to ninety-seven in 2023.
SIGN UP FOR THIS WEEK IN THE MIDEAST NEWSLETTER
Saudi Arabia is also cultivating the next generation of Saudi players through its Saudi Pro League, which is encouraging clubs to foster homegrown talent. According to a spokesperson from the league, focusing on youth helps “build long-term success, competitiveness, and sustainability for both the league and the clubs.” The United Arab Emirates is following a similar formula, introducing legislation that promotes grassroots sports as a way to develop and identify talent, providing a pipeline for Emirati youth to join professional and national teams. In 2023, the Bahraini government announced it would build a Sports City—a sports complex that would serve as a hub for youth and sports and promote innovation and excellence.
Initiatives such as these are a positive sign. More investments in youth engagement will certainly enable these nations to become more competitive in the sports world in the future and to disrupt normal sports hierarchies, which brings international merit and economic benefits, as the sports industry is a lucrative market. Saudi Arabia’s historic victory against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup served as a glimpse into what the future of Gulf sports could potentially look like on the international stage.
Empowering youth
Beyond these Gulf initiatives, the Middle East has seen the creation of various new initiatives with the aim of empowering youth populations through sports and creating an environment conducive to sustainable growth, as sports programs help children build vital skills.
For example, there are programs in Egypt and Lebanon that use sports to empower young girls by creating safe spaces to engage in physical activity, build confidence, and develop leadership abilities. Initiatives in Morocco and Tunisia are addressing socioeconomic instability through sports. By launching a program that integrates sports training with vocational skill development, Morocco’s Ministry of Youth and Sports is aiming to address both immediate and long-term economic challenges, benefiting over ten thousand Moroccan youths annually.
In 2024, an international grouping of nonprofit organizations called Cross Cultures held Open Fun Football Schools—soccer camps intended to foster cross-cultural understanding and inclusion—in six different provinces in Iraq. One of these camps was held in a suburb of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In collaboration with on-the-ground partners such as Ankawa Sports Club, the camp hosted two hundred children and teens from diverse sects and religions. Participants included displaced individuals from Syria and western Iraq. The mission of these camps goes beyond physical activity; according to Cross Cultures, the programs serve as “safe havens for children to express themselves, build confidence, and unite across religious and cultural divides.”
Bolstering resilience
Sports play an important role in fostering resilience among young people in conflict-affected areas, seeing as they provide spaces for building social cohesion, accessing support for dealing with trauma, and restoring trust within fractured communities.
With the help of international organizations, conflict-impacted areas have had successful sports programs that provide children with such spaces. A program run by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Syria provided safe places for the youth population to engage in activity ranging from soccer to gymnastics to yoga. Additionally, through sports programs, Syrian youth acquire essential knowledge and skills regarding health, hygiene, social cohesion, peacebuilding, and teamwork.
The task ahead
Sports have an undeniable ability to empower vulnerable communities, and policies specifically directed toward MENA youth have proven to be impactful in shaping the next generation of citizens and leaders of the region.
Although several notable initiatives have gotten underway, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has reported that among governments across the MENA region, “youth considerations in public policies and strategies are largely absent.” Governments across the MENA region must do more, in sports and other critical youth-oriented sectors, to put youth programs and development at the forefront of policy.
In addition, it is of utmost importance that youth populations in conflict-ridden areas be prioritized and given opportunities similar to the ones across the rest of the region. MENA governments, especially in conflict-ridden areas, should work with international organizations, such as UNICEF, to supplement policies that can create safe spaces for youth and replicate the numerous models above that have proven effective. The stakes are international: For example, research indicates that sports programs can help deter youth involvement in insurgent activities, because they offer both a valuable refuge and positive alternatives, contributing significantly to conflict prevention and community stabilization.
Gulf nations can play a key role in the development of the MENA region’s sports programs—and therefore, of its youth—by investing in initiatives outside of the Gulf. That would not only support overall regional stability but also serve as a way to continue cultivating the next generation of athletes, who may intensify the competition in the region. Such competition may convince the best athletes of the region to stay and play in the Middle East rather than go abroad, in a cycle that prevents brain drain, grows the reputation of the region’s sports, and provides avenues of economic growth.
Governments around the world also have a role to play. However, regarding the United States, the Trump administration’s recent foreign-aid freeze could put in jeopardy some US-lead youth programs in the MENA region. In a press release, a US State Department spokesperson said the agency would use the pause to review all programs to ensure that they are “efficient and consistent with US foreign policy.” In conducting the review, the US government should prioritize promoting youth sports as a core pillar of foreign aid to the MENA region, considering the impact that sports programs have on development and peace. Supporting these programs could offer the United States an alternative to its traditional approach to foreign aid—which has focused heavily on military assistance—while simultaneously unlocking the region’s youth potential and contributing to overall regional stability and progress.
As a golden era of sports takes shape in the Middle East and North Africa, the region has a unique opportunity to seize on this positive momentum to set up the young generation for success through sports. Creating an environment that protects children across the region, no matter where they are located, and empowers them is imperative to ensure positive and equitable growth across the MENA region.
Hezha Barzani is an associate director with the Atlantic Council’s empowerME initiative. Follow him on X: @HezhaFB.
Note: Some Atlantic Council work funded by the US government has been paused as a result of the Trump administration’s Stop Work Orders issued under the Executive Order “Reevaluating and Realigning US Foreign Aid.”
Further reading
Wed, Jan 3, 2024
Gulf states are vying for sports fans’ hearts and minds—one sovereign wealth fund at a time
MENASource By Joze Pelayo
In 2023, the annual tennis tournament colloquially called the Washington Open was renamed the Mubadala Citi DC Open thanks to a sponsorship from Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company—an unknown name to most Washington sports fans, but one they may see again. The Gulf Arab states have been turning their efforts and attention to Beltway sports amid […]
Wed, Jun 14, 2023
How the Saudi Pro League transformed from being unknown to inescapable
MENASource By Hezha Barzani
Saudi Arabia is levying its soccer investments both at home and abroad as its main push to make a bigger splash in the international sports world; but it’s not stopping at soccer.
Thu, Sep 28, 2023
Ronaldo’s visit to Iran was a temporary reprieve from the realities on the ground
IranSource By Hezha Barzani
The timing of the match is what stood out the most, as it took place two days after the one-year anniversary of the anti-establishment protests.
Image: Syrian and Palestinian refugee children climb up a goalpost before the start of a soccer match in the Al-Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp, near Amman June 17, 2014. The football league between young Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Jordanian youth is organized by Oxfam and the al-Baqaa youth club to commemorate World Refugee Day, which falls on June 20. The matches aim to foster positive relationships between communities, fighting exclusion and marginalization, while promoting trust and friendship, according to the organiser. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: SPORT SOCCER SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR BEST QUALITY IMAGE ALSO SEE: GF2EAAG0YTI01