The role of sport in the cultural and economic life of this country is a subject that needs little introduction.
Prestigious international sporting events such as Dubai’s Desert Classic, Abu Dhabi’s Formula One Grand Prix and the Dubai Rugby Sevens serve as major showcases for the UAE on an international stage and are among the largest draws of tourists to the country.
And it is not just international sports making their mark here; the UAE is increasingly making its mark on the international sporting arena. This comes through both direct investment, such as the acquisition of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed in 2008 and the extraordinary growth in international sponsorship agreements by the likes of Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways.
International sport, it goes without saying, is big business. A study by PwC estimates the total sports market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa is likely to be worth US$49.5 billion by the end of next year.
The UAE’s deepening relationship with such a booming global industry has not gone unnoticed by the local and international legal community. As legal work related to sport increases, firms have taken on extra staff and, in a few instances, have launched dedicated sports law practices in this region.
Among the highest-profile of these announcements came in November from the local firm Al Tamimi, which announced the launch of a sports law practice, led from Doha by Steve Bainbridge, the former general counsel at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
So what is sports law?
“It’s actually a broad range of disciplines that come under a sporting umbrella,” says Raj Pahuja, a senior associate with Al Tamimi’s Sports Practice in the UAE.
“There’s a lot of stuff that encompasses how individual sports are regulated, including issues such as the testing of athletes and horses for substance abuses, matters that are regulated at Centre for Arbitration of Sports in Lausanne.”
“At the same time it encompasses a lot of disciplines that come into play when organising a major sporting event, such as licensing, liaising with regulatory authorities, labour issues, sponsorship and so on.”
Much of the workload of sports lawyers involves the establishment of newer sporting events, such as this year’s Dubai Tour cycling event in February, which require extensive legal groundwork.
“Once an event is established, as is the case of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix or the Sevens, it more or less takes care of itself, barring some changes in sponsorship agreements,” Mr Pahuja says.
“A new event such as the Dubai Tour, however, brings a lot of legal work, such as agreements with outside sporting entities, new sponsors, local authorities and so on. It needs to be put together with a solid legal framework but in a way that the public can enjoy it as well.”
The UAE’s hosting of the first 20 games of the prestigious IPL T20 cricket tournament this year provides a case study for some of the legal considerations involved in putting on major sporting events in the country
“The main thing that we worked on was the original agreement between the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] and the Emirates Cricket Board [ECB] for the hosting of the event,” says Joby Beretta, a partner with Dentons in Dubai.
“The ECB took care of most of the logistics, while we helped arrange the back to back legal arrangements with the three venues – in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.”
“We also helped with the agreements on security, the use of intellectual property, sales of tickets and so on. We didn’t touch on the broadcast rights, that remained with the BCCI.”
Sponsorship and brand licensing agreements for sporting events and sports teams constitute the majority of legal work undertaken by sports lawyers in the UAE at present, according to Dameer Valeev, an attorney-at-law with M/Advocates of Law, a boutique firm that specialises in sporting matters.
Such work is almost exclusively focused on international events and teams, with the UAE’s local sporting scene barely getting a look in at the moment, Mr Valeev adds.
“Sponsorship is still very much driven by international events like Formula 1 or the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.
“Grass-roots sporting programmes in the UAE are currently not too developed, apart from football which is a different story.”
And the globally, the sector is getting ever more complex.
“It used to be that you would just buy the TV rights to the World Cup or the Olympics,” Mr Beretta says. “Now broadcast and sponsorship rights are being divided up, depending on whether it’s digital, whether it’s live TV, on demand or delayed TV, over-the-top advertising and so on. As the media and the technology changes the contracts have to change them and in a way they’re getting more and more complicated.”
While UAE lawyers have been tooling up in the wake of increasing sporting activity both inside and outside the country, the importance of sports law has also been recognised at by the Abu Dhabi Government as well.
In a sign of the awareness of the importance of international sports in the development of the national and regional economy, Abu Dhabi announced in 2012 it had signed an agreement to open a regional hearing centre for the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the internationally recognised disputes for sporting controversies.
The vision for the hearing centre is similar to that espoused by the DIFC Courts in Dubai, enabling any party from the wider Middle East region (or indeed beyond) to use its services for the resolution of sporting disputes, according to Mr Valeev.
“The idea is to have a centre that is physically located in the region, as arbitration is an expensive process,” he says.
“Every time there are hearings in Lausanne clubs from, say Egypt or Bahrain, would previously need to travel there, hire lawyers and so on, and the idea was to make it more user friendly to have something next door.”
The hearing centre is still finding its feet, however, and has yet to hear any arbitration proceedings so far, he says.
Still, alongside growing local awareness of sports law, it shows the country is playing in the right ball park.
jeverington@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
AT%20A%20GLANCE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
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- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Arabian Gulf Cup FINAL
Al Nasr 2
(Negredo 1, Tozo 50)
Shabab Al Ahli 1
(Jaber 13)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
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Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
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The story of Edge
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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RESULTS
2.30pm Jaguar I-Pace – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt)
1,600m
Winner Namrood, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi
(trainer)
3.05pm Land Rover Defender – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D)
1,400m
Winner Shadzadi, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
3.40pm Jaguar F-Type – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner Tahdeed, Fernando Jara, Nicholas Bachalard
4.15pm New Range Rover – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner Shanty Star, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly
4.50pm Land Rover – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner Autumn Pride, Bernardo Pinheiro, Helal Al Alawi
5.25pm Al Tayer Motor – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 T) 1,000m
Winner Dahawi, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
6pm Jaguar F-Pace SVR – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner Scabbard, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
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Available: Now
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
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Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Results
1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
