
The 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia has been postponed to December 2027-January 2028 amid Houthi missile attack concerns, joining Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula 1 cancellations, Dakar Rally relocation, and widespread disruption across football, motorsport, cycling, golf, and triathlon events in the region.
AI-generated summary
The 2027 Asian Cup was scheduled for Saudi Arabia from 7 January to 5 February but has been delayed to 23 December 2027 to 21 January 2028. The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends in April were cancelled due to the US-Iran conflict. Qatar and Abu Dhabi races at year-end are in doubt due to the ongoing situation and Houthi conflict.
The 2027 Asian Cup is just the latest event to be postponed in the Middle East amid concerns about missile attacks by Yemen's Houthi movement.
The 24-team tournament - Asia's version of the Euros - was scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia from 7 January to 5 February next year.
The Asian Cup has now been delayed by almost a year, and will be held between 23 December, 2027 and 21 January, 2028.
Sport in the region had already been heavily affected by the US-Iran conflict, which led to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends in April this year.
Now the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the end of the year are also in doubt due to that ongoing situation and the current conflict involving the Houthis. If they are cancelled, F1 would have lost four of its 24 events this year.
It is not just football and F1 that have been forced to cancel, reschedule or move high-profile events, and many more remain under threat.
BBC Sport takes a look at the situation across the sports.
The Saudi Pro League has, for the most part, managed to carry on as usual.
Several domestic league games had to be postponed, including three fixtures last month as the situation escalated.
The games were moved in the immediate aftermath of the attack on a major airport in Riyadh - though the SPL said they were switched "as a result of mandatory minimum rest periods between matches and to accommodate logistical requirements".
Following the postponement of the Asian Cup, this weekend's full round of Saudi Pro League has been called off.
The league once again has not attributed this to conflict in the region, instead saying the calendar would be recalibrated after the cancellation of the Asian Cup to achieve "a more balanced distribution of fixtures".
The AFC Champions League has been affected as well.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Kingsley Coman were among Al-Nassr's star players who did not to fly to Uzbekistan this week "given the pressure of matches and the amount of travel involved".
Al-Wasl of the United Arab Emirates also opted not to fly to Saudi Arabia to play Al-Nassr, and the match will be rearranged.
Meanwhile, the wife of Ollie Watkins, who plays for Riyadh-based Al-Hilal, posted on TikTok that she would be staying in the UK with their two children "until it calms down".
"We've had a bit of a plot twist," said Ellie Watkins. "I have come back to the UK for a little bit.
There's just a little bit of conflict and things going on over in Saudi and we basically decided just to stay here.
I felt like I needed to do that for the kids so there is some form of normality until we can get back out there and all be together."
Other well-known stars playing in the country include Gabriel Martinelli, Tijjani Reijnders, Darwin Nunez, Ivan Toney, Alexandre Lacazette, Ruben Neves, Sadio Mane and Joao Felix.
Andrew Benson, F1 Correspondent
Formula 1 has a major dilemma about racing in the Middle East both at the end of this season and the beginning of next.
Most pressingly, the 2026 season is due to end with races in Qatar on 27-29 November and Abu Dhabi on 4-6 December.
As things stand, the sport is pressing ahead with plans to go to those races after being given security reassurances from various governmental sources that it should be safe.
There are, though, many people within the sport with misgivings about going.
Should the situation in the Middle East deteriorate in the next week or so, they could be called off and replaced with a single event in Imola in Italy on the Abu Dhabi weekend.
The 2027 season is scheduled to start in Bahrain on 12-14 March, with Saudi Arabia hosting on the following weekend.
But as things stand between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Houthi separatists, that race could not go ahead, and is likely to be cancelled if nothing changes by December.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are linked by a causeway, at the Saudi end of which is a facility belonging to state oil company Aramco, which has been targeted by the Houthis, while it joins Bahrain close to the F1 track.
So Bahrain is also be in jeopardy.
One option being discussed is to hold that race in Malaysia, as was done in October this year.
The Dakar Rally was due to take place in Saudi Arabia in January but has been moved "following recent developments in the region".
Now the 2027 edition will begin in Loule-Faro in Portugal and end in Marrakech in Morocco.
Saudi Arabia had hosted the previous seven editions of Dakar, and the intention is to return in 2028.
Rally Saudi Arabia, part of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship, which was scheduled for 12–15 November, has been cancelled.
But MotoGP will still take place this weekend at the Lusail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar, with three races left in the season.
It will go ahead without the Yamaha team, which has been advised against travelling from Japan.
The FIFAe Finals, an esports tournament series organised by Fifa, should have taken place in Jeddah last month but was cancelled.
This week's UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, for the world's leading riders in trials and BMX Freestyle, in Riyadh was called off too, with a decision due "on the sporting consequences of this announcement".
The PIF Saudi International event, the season finale of the Asian Tour, will not be held between 18-21 November at Riyadh Golf Club.
After "an assessment of the organisational and logistical challenges associated with hosting the tournament" the decision was taken to call it off.
And on Tuesday, the Professional Triathletes Organisation said it was moving the Saudi Arabia T100 and World Triathlon Cup, in Jeddah, from the end of this month to 16-17 April.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The Qatar and Abu Dhabi Formula 1 races could be called off if the Middle East situation deteriorates in the next week or so.
Possible · Within days
The 2027 Saudi Arabian Formula 1 race is likely to be cancelled if nothing changes by December.
Likely · Within months
The Bahrain Formula 1 race is also in jeopardy due to its link with Saudi Arabia via the causeway.
Possible · Within months

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