The 50 million sq ft Dubai Sports City is starting to emerge from the desert of Dubai's hinterland and could play host to premiership football matches, international cricket tournaments and big-name boxing bouts within two years. Amy Glass reports on the emirate's ambition to become a global sporting hub.
From football to cricket, the developers of Sports City already are planning to capture the world's biggest sporting events when its first stadiums are completed next year.
The staggering 50 million sq ft development is being built around five major sports venues - a 60,000 capacity multi-purpose outdoor stadium, a 10,000 indoor arena suitable for hard court sports, a 25,000 capacity cricket stadium, a 5,000 seat hockey stadium, and an 18-hole golf course.
Dubai Sports City CEO U Balasubramaniam makes no secret of his huge dreams for the city, as he envisions screaming crowds watching English Premiership football matches, or the world's biggest cricket stars smashing sixes in the soon-to-be completed stadium.
High on his hit list is the goal of attracting Premiership football matches to the venue.
"There is a huge following of football throughout the Middle and Far East. It's phenomenal. Imagine our 60,000-capacity stadium with Arsenal and Manchester United playing in it - that would be great," he said.
England's Football Association (FA) has floated the idea that from the 2010/11 season, teams could play a number of games abroad, aimed at increasing the popularity of the league internationally.
However, the proposal has come under fire at home and has generated concerns from fans who fear they will lose out.
Balasubramaniam concedes there has been much 'speculation' on the topic and that many details would need to be ironed out.
But he points to the huge regional following of clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, as a favourable factor for Dubai's hosting chances.
While efforts are made to woo the big Premiership names to the desert, moves are also afoot to snare major cricket events for the new 25,000 capacity stadium - including the ICC Sixes Cricket World Series - which could be as early as 2009, he added.
"The tournament organisers have come and seen our stadium and were impressed but the details still have to be worked out.
"The tournament is likely to include countries from all over the world, and I know they have Shane Warne from Australia, Bryan McMullen from New Zealand, and Anil Kumble from India to play in the tournament."
He said Dubai Sports City would make an announcement once organisers' plans were finalised and the tournament format clarified, which he expects to happen next year.
The first iSixes World Series event will take place in Singapore in July and feature teams from all nine Test playing nations, plus one team from the host country, all competing for a grand prize of US$1m.
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