18 killed in Riyadh strikes as Dakar Rally 2027 moves to new host
Amaury Sport Organisation and Saudi Motorsport Company confirmed the January event will shift to a different territory after airport attacks, with a return to Saudi Arabia planned for 2028.
By David Bennett ·
The Amaury Sport Organisation and the Saudi Motorsport Company announced on Sunday that the 2027 Dakar Rally will not be held in Saudi Arabia. The two groups stated the race will move to a different territory, citing recent regional developments. The new host location is expected to be named within the coming days.
The decision follows a series of strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month. Those attacks killed 18 people and injured hundreds of others. Organizers had previously attempted to keep the event in the kingdom by designing a new route in the northern part of the country, but the latest strikes made that plan impossible.
Specialist race media report that Morocco and Spain are under consideration as replacement hosts. A move to Morocco would return the rally to Africa for the first time since 2007. The 2027 edition is scheduled for January. The organizers also confirmed they intend to bring the race back to Saudi Arabia in 2028, a year that marks the event's 50th anniversary.
The Dakar Rally has been hosted by Saudi Arabia since 2020. It originally started as a race from Paris to Dakar in Senegal. The event was canceled in 2008 due to security concerns in North Africa, then moved to South America before arriving in the Middle East.
The rally is the latest major sporting event to leave Saudi Arabia this year due to the US-Israel war on Iran and Houthi attacks. The Formula One grand prix in Jeddah was canceled, while the Bahrain race was rescheduled and renamed as the Malaysian Grand Prix. The final World Rally Championship round in Saudi Arabia, planned for next month, has also been scrapped.
An exhibition tennis event featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December. The WTA Finals, originally planned for Riyadh next month, will instead take place in Indian Wells, California. The final two Formula One races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, along with the Qatar MotoGP, remain on the calendar but face internal debate.
In Yemen, fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has intensified on several fronts in recent weeks. The conflict deepened last month when Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition supporting the Yemeni government, and the ongoing attacks have disrupted businesses, airlines, and daily life in the kingdom.
Source: Al Jazeera
