Kuwait City, Kuwait, May 25, 2022: Sports in the Gulf region will get bigger and better – and there will be more of it in the future.
The next edition of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Games will be held in Doha, Qatar in 2026, and will be expanded to include four more National Olympic Committees – Jordan, Morocco, Iraq and Yemen – taking the total number of participating countries to 10.
The 4th GCC Games in Qatar 2026 will also see women athletes compete in all the sports in the medal programme.
In addition to these two momentous decisions, sports in the Gulf received a further boost with the Secretary Generals of all the six National Olympic Committees at the 3rd Gulf Games in Kuwait unanimously deciding on Monday, May 23, to usher in for the first time a GCC Youth Games and an GCC Indoor Martial Arts Games in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
“We have taken a number of important decisions today which will make sport in the region bigger and better,” revealed Olympic Council of Asia Director General Husain Al-Musallam, who is also the Secretary General of the Kuwait National Olympic Committee.
“The first decision was to hold the GCC Youth Games in UAE in 2023 followed by the GCC Indoor Martial Arts Games in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
Both these events will feature for the first time in the Gulf,” Mr. Al-Musallam said. “Then in 2025, the second GCC Beach Games will be held in Muscat, Oman.”
The inclusion of a Youth Games and an Indoor Martial Arts Games for the first time, plus holding a second Beach Games, puts the GCC region on par with the Olympic Council of Asia’s sporting calendar which features all these separate events.
But the most significant decision taken by the GCC working committee was in inviting Jordan, Morocco, Iraq and Yemen to the party in four years in Qatar when the 4th Gulf Games will be staged.
"We have invited them to join us in Qatar, four years from now," the Kuwait NOC Secretary General said.
The meeting also saw the Chair of the OCA’s Gender Equity Committee, Sheikha Hayat Bint Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa, make her presentation for equality in gender representation in sports at the Gulf Games – and this was also given the green light.
“At the next Games in Qatar, women athletes will take part in all the sports on the programme. This is a move which brings the Gulf in line with the practices of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia,” Mr Al-Musallam added.
Women have made their debut at the ongoing Gulf Games in six of the 16 sports – athletics, basketball (3x3), cycling, futsal, esports and padel. Four years down the line they will be competing in all sports.
GCC Games calendar
2023 – 1st Youth Games, UAE
2024 – 1st Indoor Martial Arts Games, Saudi Arabia
2025 – 2nd Beach Games, Oman
2026 – 4th Gulf Games, Qatar