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Dakar Rally 2027 moved out of Saudi Arabia after regional escalation

Organisers said on Sunday the January 2027 Dakar Rally will leave Saudi Arabia "following recent developments in the region", with a new location due within days and a return planned for 2028.

4 outlets · 1L · 2C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: Al Jazeera
Image: CNA
Image: Arab News
Image: Gulf News

1 / 4

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Organisers said on Sunday 25 October that the 2027 Dakar Rally will not be held in Saudi Arabia, citing "recent developments in the region". Mixed · 2The statement said "Dakar 2027 will go ahead" in "a different territory", still organised by ASO, which runs the event with the Saudi Motorsport Company, and that a new location will be announced in the "coming days". Mixed · 2Specialist media reports, cited by both outlets, say the preferred option is a start in Spain with Morocco as the destination; that would bring the race back to Africa for the first time since 2007.

Mixed · 2Organisers intend to return the rally to Saudi Arabia in 2028 for its 50th edition. Right · 1AFP, carried by Arab News, links the move to a wider US-Iran war that began in February and to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognised government after a truce broke down in the summer; Yemen's civil war had been dormant since a 2022 ceasefire and reignited in July. Left · 1Al Jazeera describes the context as a US-Israel war on Iran and deadly Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, and says organisers had hoped to stay by planning a new northern route but that recent strikes made this impossible, including attacks this month on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that it says killed 18 people and injured hundreds.

Mixed · 2The Dakar is the latest sports event to be cancelled, postponed or moved: Al Jazeera lists the Jeddah Formula One grand prix (cancelled), the Bahrain race (moved to Malaysia), the final World Rally Championship round in Saudi Arabia (scrapped), an exhibition tennis event (postponed to late December) and the WTA Finals (moved from Riyadh to Indian Wells), while the Qatar and Abu Dhabi F1 races and Qatar MotoGP remain scheduled but are debated. Mixed · 2The rally began as the Paris-Dakar and moved to South America from 2009 over security threats in North Africa, then to Saudi Arabia in 2020. Al Jazeera says the 2008 edition was cancelled at short notice for the same reason.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Al Jazeera ties the move to the war and Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia, with the Dakar as one of a series of sports events displaced.
Emphasis
Casualties from the Riyadh airport attacks, the list of cancelled or moved events, Yemen's humanitarian crisis and damage to Saudi Arabia's image.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not mention the 2022 Yemen ceasefire background that AFP gives.
Charged language
“deadly attacks”“spiralling humanitarian crisis”“huge blow”
For example
“have rendered that impossible.” — Al Jazeera
“causing a spiralling humanitarian crisis.” — Al Jazeera

Centre2 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right1 outlet

Framing
Arab News runs AFP's short report: the move as the latest sporting casualty of the wider war, with Yemen's history and the race's route history.
Emphasis
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government, the likely Spain-Morocco route, and the race's history.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives no casualty figures, no list of other affected events, and no account of the failed attempt to keep the race in northern Saudi Arabia.
Charged language
“legitimate Yemeni government”
For example
“Saudi Arabia and the legitimate Yemeni government have come under sustained attack in recent weeks from the Houthis” — Arab News

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