Dakar Rally 2027 Moved Out of Saudi Arabia Amid Middle East Conflict

The 2027 edition of the Dakar Rally, one of the world's toughest and best-known off-road races, has been moved out of Saudi Arabia. Organisers say the January race will be relocated due to recent developments in the region.

The rally was scheduled for January. It will now be held in a different territory, to be announced later. The Amaury Sport Organisation and Saudi Motorsport Company said this in a statement on Sunday. The statement added that a new location will be announced in the coming days. Organisers said they intend to bring the rally back to Saudi Arabia in 2028 to celebrate its 50th edition.

It is the latest in a series of sports events to be moved out of Saudi Arabia this year over the US-Israel war on Iran and deadly attacks by Yemen's Houthis on Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has hosted the Dakar Rally since 2020. Reports in specialist race media said a move to Morocco or Spain is being considered. If it is moved to Morocco, it would be the first time the Dakar has been held in Africa since 2007. The event began as a competition from Paris to Senegal's capital, Dakar. It was cancelled on short notice in 2008 over security concerns in North Africa. Since then, it has been held first in South America, then in Saudi Arabia.

Other events in Saudi Arabia have faced similar decisions. This season's Formula One grand prix in Jeddah was cancelled, while the race in Bahrain was called off and later rescheduled under the same name in Malaysia. The final round of the World Rally Championship in Saudi Arabia next month has also been scrapped.

An exhibition tennis tournament in Saudi Arabia due to feature Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December. The WTA Finals, scheduled to be held in Riyadh next month, will instead take place at Indian Wells, California, in the United States.

The last two races of the F1 season in Qatar on 29 November and Abu Dhabi on 6 December are still on the calendar, as is the Qatar MotoGP next month, but they are the subject of intense internal debate.

Organisers had hoped to keep the 2027 race in Saudi Arabia by working on a new route in the northern part of the country. But the latest strikes, including a series of attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, which killed 18 people and injured hundreds more, have rendered that impossible.