Top 10

This, as every hackneyed sports writer will be saying, is a “bumper year” for sports. From the Winter Olympics to the World Cup, there is world-class action taking place pretty much every week in 2010 – and a lot of it has particular significance to us in the Arab World. And whether we in the Middle East should give a damn is the main criteria for determining our list – so NFL fans, Stanley Cup loyalists and those people who for some reason care whether a group of men with sticks win at whacking small white balls into slightly larger holes, we apologise that your passion isn’t reflected here. Well, in the case of golf, we don’t at all – it’s a ludicrous game. But for the rest, sit back and enjoy what, we can confirm, will be a truly bumper year.

 

When: March 27, Where: Meydan Racecourse, Dubai

 

The bubble might have burst, but the signs of the good old days are still to be found all across the Emirate of Dubai. Planned, designed and started long before everything went belly-up, the Meydan Racecourse is the first big new “reveal” of the post-crisis era. And the home of the 2010 Dubai Gold Cup horserace has all the vestiges of happier times – from the 60,000-seat grandstand, to the six luxury restaurants and, of course, marina and multi-starred hotel, The Meydan. The racing itself should be pretty lively on the all-weather track, with several of the world’s leading stables competing for the $10 million prize pot. 

 

When: March 14th, Where: Losail International Circuit

 

The first ever F1 to come to the Middle East is a positive fixture on the calendar these days, and with Abu Dhabi now providing the season climax, the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix ensures that this year the biggest competition in motorsport begins and ends in the Arab World. And it might be the most eagerly-awaited opening race weekend in some time, with no less than seven new teams taking to the start grid: US F1 Racing, Lotus F1 from Malaysia, a relaunched Sauber to replace the defunct BMW Sauber, Campos Meta from Spain, Richard Branson’s Virgin Racing and, perhaps the most important, Mercedes Grand Prix, which is built on the foundations of last year’s surprise package, Brawn GP. 

 

When: January 10th-31st, Where: Angola

 

With the World Cup deceivingly hogging all of the football headlines this year, the African Cup of Nations will provide further proof that the game in Africa is in rude health – and, in continental terms, that it is really second only to the European Championships in the quality of its teams and the ferocity of its competition. The three-week, patchy-pitched tussle in Angola will feature 16 teams, three of whom – defending champions Egypt, World Cup-bound Algeria and Tunisia – will be from the Arab World. And they’re all among the favourites.

 

When: April 1st-3rd, Where: Jordan

 

After the success of the first World Rally Championship round in an Arab country in 2008, the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, has decided to repeat the exercise this year. Jordan was widely praised for the “slick organisation” and “epic scenery” of the sport’s maiden Middle Eastern experiment, and it was little surprise that the Kingdom – and its sub-sea level, gravel-track stages – was reintroduced to the 2010 schedule. It means that Jordan, like Abu Dhabi and Bahrain in Formula 1, has become a fixture on an international motorsport’s calendar. 

 

What: June 11 to July 11, Where: South Africa

 

The biggest sporting event on the planet – sorry, Olympic Committee, but people care about this one – comes around again in June, and for the first time an African country will be hosting it. The World Cup in South Africa is FIFA’s 19th and although the Arab contingent, comprised solely of Algeria and the odd naturalised Frenchman, will be the smallest since 1978, there is plenty for the Arab Street to get excited about.

 

Of course, the 32-team format is beginning to have the strong whiff of commercial exploitation about it, and rather like the Champions League, the presence of seeds and poor-quality teams means that things won’t really get interesting until the last 16. It’s difficult to see anyone getting excited about a group containing Spain, Switzerland, Honduras and Chile – apart from Spanish linguists possibly – while Italy fans must endure games against New Zealand, Paraguay and Slovakia. 

 

Although Brazil face Portugal and the Ivory Coast, who could both cause the favourites trouble, in Group G, the only genuine “group of death” looks to be Group D, where a fragile-looking Germany face a genuinely world-class Australia, a highly competitive Serbia and the abrasive qualities of Ghana, complete with Chelsea’s Michael Essien. All in all, the potential semi-finals could well be Brazil versus Italy and England versus Spain – which looks more like a proper tournament.

 

For a full version of this article,see NOX42.