Riyadh strikes force 2027 Dakar Rally out of Saudi Arabia

The Amaury Sport Organisation and the Saudi Motorsport Company announced on Sunday that the 2027 Dakar Rally will not take place in Saudi Arabia. The decision follows a series of attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month. Those strikes killed 18 people and injured hundreds more.

The organizers stated in a joint release that the event will be staged in a different territory. They said the new location will be revealed in the coming days. The two bodies also confirmed that the rally is scheduled to return to Saudi Arabia in 2028. That year marks the 50th running of the race.

Saudi Arabia has hosted the Dakar Rally since 2020. The event was originally planned to remain in the kingdom for 2027. Organizers had designed a new route in the northern part of the country. They said the latest strikes made that plan impossible to execute.

Specialist race media report that Morocco and Spain are under consideration as replacements. A move to Morocco would return the race to Africa for the first time since 2007. The Dakar began as a race from Paris to Dakar in Senegal. It was called off in 2008 due to security concerns in North Africa before moving to South America.

The rally is the latest major sporting event to leave Saudi Arabia this year. The change results from the US-Israel war on Iran and Houthi attacks on the kingdom. The Formula One grand prix in Jeddah was cancelled. The Bahrain race was also cancelled and later rescheduled under the same name in Malaysia. The final round of the World Rally Championship in Saudi Arabia next month has been scrapped.

Other events have also faced disruptions. An exhibition tennis event featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev was postponed until late December. The WTA Finals, originally planned for Riyadh next month, will now be played at Indian Wells in California. The final two Formula One races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi remain on the calendar, as does the Qatar MotoGP.

In Yemen, fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has intensified in recent weeks. The Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government last month. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition backing the Yemeni government. The attacks have disrupted businesses, airlines, and daily life in the kingdom.