Which sporting events is Saudi Arabia hosting in 2025?
On the back of the busiest sporting year Saudi Arabia has ever had, punctuated by news of the nation’s successful 2034 FIFA World Cup bid, the 2025 calendar is looking equally packed with world-class competition.
Kicking off with the Dakar Rally in January, the Kingdom will host many of the biggest names in sport over the next 12 months, welcoming the world’s leading athletes across a range of events.
Here, sporting events will be hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2025.
January
Dakar Rally (Jan. 3-17): The sporting year begins again with the 2025 Dakar Rally, which is being hosted in Saudi Arabia for the sixth year in a row. The 2025 route starts in the southwestern town of Bisha, in Asir province, and will see drivers traverse the Kingdom’s vast Empty Quarter through 12 stages, before reaching the finish line in Shubaytah.
The motorsport extravaganza will be contested across six categories – Bikes, Cars, Challenger (T3), SSV (T4), Trucks and Classics – with a record number of Saudi national entrants expected.
Supercoppa Italiana (Jan. 2-5): The first feast of foreign football arriving on the Kingdom’s shores is the 2025 Supercoppa Italiana, which pits Serie A champion Inter Milan and runner-up AC Milan against Coppa Italia winner Juventus and runner-up Atalanta at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh.
Inter beat Napoli with a dramatic stoppage-time winner in last year’s final and this time the eight-time winner faces current Serie A leader Atalanta in the first semi-final, with Juventus and AC Milan doing battle in the other last-four encounter.
Supercopa de España (Jan. 8-12): Returning to Saudi Arabia for the fifth time in six years, the Supercopa de España brings together a quartet of Spain’s best clubs. Reigning La Liga champion Real Madrid and runner-up Barcelona are joined by Copa del Rey winner Athletic Bilbao and runner-up Mallorca for the four-team tournament – taking place January 8-12 at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.
Last year’s final saw Real Madrid win their 13th Supercopa title, beating record 14-time champion Barcelona; the two Spanish giants could meet again in the final this year too.
UIM E1 World Championship Jeddah (Jan. 24-25): The second season of the UIM E1 World Championship begins in Jeddah in January as the Saudi city welcomes the innovative electric raceboat series back to its shoreline. The 2024 race – and eventually the inaugural championship title – was won by Emma Kimiläinen and Sam Coleman of Team Brady, owned by legendary American football player Tom Brady.
Other team owners include ex-Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, Spanish tennis ace Rafa Nadal and DJ Steve Aoki, whose Team Aoki included Saudi drivers Mashael al-Obaidan and Saud Ahmed.
February
UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Imavov (Feb. 1): The Ultimate Fighting Championship is back in Riyadh for the second time after UFC on ABC: Whittaker vs Aliskerov was hosted in the Saudi capital last June. The event – taking place at the anb Arena – will see UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya defend his title against Nassourdine Imavov, while Ikram Aliskerov and Andre Muniz are also expected to face off in a rearranged bout.
LIV Golf Riyadh (Feb. 6-8): The 2025 LIV Golf season starts in Riyadh as many of the world’s best golfers – including Major winners Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm – play in the first LIV tournament to be held at Riyadh Golf Club.
The event sets the tone for the LIV Golf season ahead, with Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann among the favorites to win having claimed victory at the same course at the Asian Tour’s PIF Saudi International in December. Niemann was among 43 LIV players who entered that event in order to play the course ahead of LIV Golf Riyadh.
Jeddah ePrix (Feb. 14-15): Formula E makes its debut in Jeddah in 2025 after six years of racing in Diriyah, with a pair of races at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the same venue used by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Formula One.
The inaugural Jeddah ePrix is the third meeting of the 2024-25 Formula E season, coming after races in Sao Paulo and Mexico City. In the 2024 Formula E weekend in Saudi Arabia, the races were won by Jake Dennis in the Andretti-Porsche and Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy.
The Saudi Cup (Feb. 21-22): The 2025 Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race and arguably the biggest date on the racing calendar, is back at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh this February. The globe’s finest thoroughbreds and jockeys will descend on the Saudi capital to chase a record prize fund across the race meeting of more than $38.1 million, with $20m of that reserved for the eponymous Saudi Cup itself.
In 2024, Senor Buscador with jockey Junior Alvarado beat 2023 Dubai World Cup champion Ushba Tesoro under Yuga Kawada to win the headline race.
Beterbiev vs Bivol II (Feb. 22): Just two months after Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury’s epic Riyadh rematch, Undisputed Light-Heavyweight boxing champion Artur Beterbiev puts all four belts on the line against Dmitry Bivol for the pair’s second encounter.
Beterbiev vs Bivol 2 is the headline fight of an excellent card that also includes Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker for the WBO World Heavyweight title and Chinese fighter Zhilei Zheng vs Agit Kabayel for the WBC Interim Heavyweight belt.
April
AFC Asian U17 Cup (Apr. 3-20): The brightest young football stars in Asia take to the Kingdom’s pitches in April as the AFC Under-17 Asian Cup is hosted in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1992.
It is 37 years since Saudi Arabia won the second of its two U17 Asian Cup titles and the talented young side will be hoping to improve on its run to the quarter-final in the 2023 tournament in Thailand, which was won by record four-time champion Japan. Should the Saudi team reach the last eight again, the reward is a spot at the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Apr. 18-20): For the fifth time, Jeddah will host the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Last year’s race saw eventual 2024 champion Max Verstappen win from pole position for Red Bull, with the Dutchman claiming his 100th career podium.
The 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will see some major changes in personnel, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ending his long association with Mercedes to make an eye-catching move to Ferrari. The weekend will also see two high-octane races in the all-female F1 Academy competition.
May
AFC Champions League Elite Finals (Apr. 25-May. 4): The finale of the inaugural season of the AFC Champions League Elite will play out in Saudi Arabia after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) made major changes to the structure of its tournaments last year. In the biggest shake up in two decades, the rebranded AFC Champions League Elite is now the continent’s biggest club football competition.
Previously, teams from East and West Asia were separated until the final, but the new format will see the competition finish with a mini-tournament – held in Saudi Arabia – from the quarter-final stage. It means that teams from across the continent can meet in the last eight as they bid to become the first champion of the ACL Elite and make it to the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup finals.
August
FIBA Asia Cup (Aug. 5-17): For the first time since 1997, Saudi Arabia will host the FIBA Asian Cup, as the continent’s leading basketball-playing nations chase victory.
The Saudi team made it to the semi-finals last time it hosted 28 years ago before claiming its best ever finish (third place) a year later. The current Saudi team will be hoping to match that achievement when the FIBA Asian Cup comes to Jeddah, though they face a stacked field including reigning champion Australia and beaten 2023 finalist Lebanon.
November
Rally Saudi Arabia (Nov. 27-30): The World Rally Championship (WRC) returns to the Middle East for the first time since Jordan hosted an event in 2011 as the Rally Saudi Arabia in Jeddah brings the curtain down on the 2025 WRC season. It is the first event of a 10-year agreement between the WRC and the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF).
“The arrival of another racing series of global stature in Saudi Arabia confirms the extent of our transformation into a major hub for motorsport in the region,” SAMF chairman Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al Abdullah Al-Faisal said when the deal was announced in 2024.
WTA Tour Finals (Nov. 3-9): For a third successive year, the world’s best eight tennis players will play the season-ending WTA Tour Finals at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in 2015.
The leading octet will do battle for the most coveted trophy in women’s tennis outside of the Grand Slams, with American Coco Gauff the defending champion after claiming her first Tour Finals triumph in 2024 with victory over China’s Zheng Qinwen in 2024.
December
ATP Next Gen Finals (TBD): The eight most exciting young players in world tennis come together for the ATP Next Gen Finals, which will be held in Jeddah for the third successive year.
An annual tournament for the top-ranked players aged 21 and under, it has previously been won by the likes of Carlos Acaraz and Jannik Sinner, two players currently dominating men’s tennis. The 2024 title was claimed by underdog Brazilian João Fonseca, who became the lowest-ranked player to ever lift the trophy.
Other events in 2025
Olympic Esports Games (TBD): A landmark partnership between Saudi Arabia and the International Olympic Committee signed in the summer of 2024 has paved the way for the Olympic Esports Games to be hosted in the Kingdom for the next 12 years. The first edition is due to take place in 2025 with a promise that it will be the most comprehensive gaming event ever organized by the IOC.
Islamic Solidarity Games (TBD): A multi-sport event held every four years by the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the Islamic Solidarity Games brings together athletes from across the Islamic world to celebrate unity, diversity, and excellence.
The 2025 edition in Riyadh marks a significant milestone, as ISSA was founded in the Saudi capital 40 years ago and holds the organization’s permanent presidency, with Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud currently in the role.
Saudi Games: No date is yet confirmed but the fourth edition of the Saudi Games will take place in 2025 – most likely in October again after a successful 2024 Games.
Organized by the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SOPC), the multi-disciplinary event gives Saudis a chance to compete for national sporting titles and records, aiding the progress of the Kingdom as it moves through the Olympic cycle towards Los Angeles 2028.
