The first ever book examining the burgeoning growth of sport management in the Middle East has been launched by His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, in Abu Dhabi.

The book was published by Arab sporting legend Dr Mohammed Ben Sulayem, ATCUAE director Dr Sean O Connor along with leading UK academic Dr David Hassan. Its release is regarded as critical in addressing the educational and professional needs of the sport industry in the Middle East and is being hailed as one of the very best sport management books to be published in the last ten years.

Dr Ben Sulayem, the principal contributor to the book, commented that its release was part of a broader contribution he felt sporting federations can make to society. “We hope that this book will encourage the next generation of Arabs to demonstrate an evidence-based approach to their work and ensure the region’s position internationally in the vanguard of sporting excellence.”

The importance of sport in profiling the Middle East globally is now widely accepted. World leading events in the UAE, including the Dubai World Cup, Etihad Airways Formula 1 Grand Prix and a host of major golf and tennis events, as well as the forthcoming FIFA World Cup to be staged in Qatar in 2022, have placed the region at the forefront of the sport, event and tourism sectors worldwide. Global sports sponsorships by Etihad and Emirates airlines have similarly secured the Middle East’s position at the centre of world sport.

The release of the book, which has been published by the world’s leading academic publishers Routledge, comes only one month after the launch of a joint Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) – University of Ulster (UK) BSc (Hons) Applied Sport Management degree to be delivered at HCT Men’s College, Abu Dhabi with its first intake of students in September.

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