Ecuador beat the Green Falcons 2-1 at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, a result that flattered Saudi Arabia thanks to Sultan Mandash's late consolation in the 87th minute. For much of the evening, Donis's side looked like exactly what they are: a team learning a new system under a new coach with 16 days until they open their World Cup campaign against Spain.
The match started 30 minutes late due to technical issues at the venue. That delay did nothing for Saudi nerves. Ecuador took the lead in the 35th minute when Jackson Porozo, the Santos Laguna centre-back, rose highest to meet John Yeboah's set-piece delivery and powered a header into the bottom-left corner. The Saudi defensive line did not move. Nobody attacked the ball. Porozo had the freedom of New Jersey.
Anthony Valencia doubled the advantage in the 51st minute with a left-footed finish from the centre of the box that gave the goalkeeper no chance. It was 2-0 and it should have stayed that way. Ecuador had six shots on target to Saudi Arabia's two. They were quicker to every second ball, sharper in transition, and more cohesive in their pressing. The fact that they held 42 percent possession and still dominated tells you everything about the quality gap on the night.
Donis set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Salem Al-Dawsari starting on the bench and introduced in the second half alongside Abdullah Al-Hamdan and Feras Al-Buraikan. The substitutions improved the attacking output. Mandash's goal, a smart finish after a through ball from Ali Al-Hejji, at least gave the travelling Saudi supporters something to hold onto. But this was not a performance that suggested readiness for what is coming.
And what is coming is brutal. Saudi Arabia open their Group H campaign against Spain on June 15 in one of the most demanding opening fixtures any team faces at this tournament. Then Uruguay. Then Cape Verde. Three matches in 10 days against opponents who will expose every weakness that Ecuador identified on Saturday night: vulnerability at set pieces, a lack of cohesion in midfield transitions, and a disconnect between the defensive block and the attacking players that comes from having trained together for barely a month.
The 30-man squad Donis selected is predominantly domestic, drawn from the Saudi Pro League. Captain Al-Dawsari remains the talisman at 33. Saud Abdulhamid, who plays his club football in France, provides European experience at right-back. Five members of the recently crowned AFC Champions League winners Al Ahli are included, giving Donis a core of players who know what it feels like to win under pressure. But knowing how to win at club level and knowing how to execute a new coach's tactical plan at international level are different things entirely.
The context matters. Saudi Arabia churned through Roberto Mancini and Herve Renard during qualification before appointing Donis in April, just two months before the tournament. No coach in World Cup history has been handed a shorter runway. Donis knows Saudi football intimately from a decade in the Pro League, and that familiarity with the players is the reason the SAFF chose him over higher-profile candidates. But familiarity does not replace time on the training ground, and Saturday's performance showed that the tactical identity is still very much under construction.
There are two more friendlies before it gets real. Puerto Rico on June 5 in Austin. Senegal on June 9 in San Antonio. Those matches will tell us more about Donis's preferred shape, his first-choice midfield pairing, and whether Al-Dawsari starts or comes off the bench as an impact player. Saturday was the first brushstroke. It was not a masterpiece. But it was a start.
The last time Saudi Arabia played a World Cup on American soil, in 1994, they reached the round of 16. Saeed Al-Owairan scored one of the greatest goals in tournament history against Belgium. That team had been together for years under Jorge Solari. This team has been together for weeks under Donis. The romance of the parallel is obvious. The gap between then and now, on the evidence of Saturday night, is not.
Ecuador beat the Green Falcons 2-1 at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, a result that flattered Saudi Arabia thanks to Sultan Mandash's late consolation in the 87th minute. For much of the evening, Donis's side looked like exactly what they are: a team learning a new system under a new coach with 16 days until they open their World Cup campaign against Spain.
The match started 30 minutes late due to technical issues at the venue. That delay did nothing for Saudi nerves. Ecuador took the lead in the 35th minute when Jackson Porozo, the Santos Laguna centre-back, rose highest to meet John Yeboah's set-piece delivery and powered a header into the bottom-left corner. The Saudi defensive line did not move. Nobody attacked the ball. Porozo had the freedom of New Jersey.
Anthony Valencia doubled the advantage in the 51st minute with a left-footed finish from the centre of the box that gave the goalkeeper no chance. It was 2-0 and it should have stayed that way. Ecuador had six shots on target to Saudi Arabia's two. They were quicker to every second ball, sharper in transition, and more cohesive in their pressing. The fact that they held 42 percent possession and still dominated tells you everything about the quality gap on the night.
Donis set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Salem Al-Dawsari starting on the bench and introduced in the second half alongside Abdullah Al-Hamdan and Feras Al-Buraikan. The substitutions improved the attacking output. Mandash's goal, a smart finish after a through ball from Ali Al-Hejji, at least gave the travelling Saudi supporters something to hold onto. But this was not a performance that suggested readiness for what is coming.
And what is coming is brutal. Saudi Arabia open their Group H campaign against Spain on June 15 in one of the most demanding opening fixtures any team faces at this tournament. Then Uruguay. Then Cape Verde. Three matches in 10 days against opponents who will expose every weakness that Ecuador identified on Saturday night: vulnerability at set pieces, a lack of cohesion in midfield transitions, and a disconnect between the defensive block and the attacking players that comes from having trained together for barely a month.
The 30-man squad Donis selected is predominantly domestic, drawn from the Saudi Pro League. Captain Al-Dawsari remains the talisman at 33. Saud Abdulhamid, who plays his club football in France, provides European experience at right-back. Five members of the recently crowned AFC Champions League winners Al Ahli are included, giving Donis a core of players who know what it feels like to win under pressure. But knowing how to win at club level and knowing how to execute a new coach's tactical plan at international level are different things entirely.
The context matters. Saudi Arabia churned through Roberto Mancini and Herve Renard during qualification before appointing Donis in April, just two months before the tournament. No coach in World Cup history has been handed a shorter runway. Donis knows Saudi football intimately from a decade in the Pro League, and that familiarity with the players is the reason the SAFF chose him over higher-profile candidates. But familiarity does not replace time on the training ground, and Saturday's performance showed that the tactical identity is still very much under construction.
There are two more friendlies before it gets real. Puerto Rico on June 5 in Austin. Senegal on June 9 in San Antonio. Those matches will tell us more about Donis's preferred shape, his first-choice midfield pairing, and whether Al-Dawsari starts or comes off the bench as an impact player. Saturday was the first brushstroke. It was not a masterpiece. But it was a start.
The last time Saudi Arabia played a World Cup on American soil, in 1994, they reached the round of 16. Saeed Al-Owairan scored one of the greatest goals in tournament history against Belgium. That team had been together for years under Jorge Solari. This team has been together for weeks under Donis. The romance of the parallel is obvious. The gap between then and now, on the evidence of Saturday night, is not.
Ecuador beat the Green Falcons 2-1 at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, a result that flattered Saudi Arabia thanks to Sultan Mandash's late consolation in the 87th minute. For much of the evening, Donis's side looked like exactly what they are: a team learning a new system under a new coach with 16 days until they open their World Cup campaign against Spain.
The match started 30 minutes late due to technical issues at the venue. That delay did nothing for Saudi nerves. Ecuador took the lead in the 35th minute when Jackson Porozo, the Santos Laguna centre-back, rose highest to meet John Yeboah's set-piece delivery and powered a header into the bottom-left corner. The Saudi defensive line did not move. Nobody attacked the ball. Porozo had the freedom of New Jersey.
Anthony Valencia doubled the advantage in the 51st minute with a left-footed finish from the centre of the box that gave the goalkeeper no chance. It was 2-0 and it should have stayed that way. Ecuador had six shots on target to Saudi Arabia's two. They were quicker to every second ball, sharper in transition, and more cohesive in their pressing. The fact that they held 42 percent possession and still dominated tells you everything about the quality gap on the night.
Donis set up in a 4-2-3-1, with Salem Al-Dawsari starting on the bench and introduced in the second half alongside Abdullah Al-Hamdan and Feras Al-Buraikan. The substitutions improved the attacking output. Mandash's goal, a smart finish after a through ball from Ali Al-Hejji, at least gave the travelling Saudi supporters something to hold onto. But this was not a performance that suggested readiness for what is coming.
And what is coming is brutal. Saudi Arabia open their Group H campaign against Spain on June 15 in one of the most demanding opening fixtures any team faces at this tournament. Then Uruguay. Then Cape Verde. Three matches in 10 days against opponents who will expose every weakness that Ecuador identified on Saturday night: vulnerability at set pieces, a lack of cohesion in midfield transitions, and a disconnect between the defensive block and the attacking players that comes from having trained together for barely a month.
The 30-man squad Donis selected is predominantly domestic, drawn from the Saudi Pro League. Captain Al-Dawsari remains the talisman at 33. Saud Abdulhamid, who plays his club football in France, provides European experience at right-back. Five members of the recently crowned AFC Champions League winners Al Ahli are included, giving Donis a core of players who know what it feels like to win under pressure. But knowing how to win at club level and knowing how to execute a new coach's tactical plan at international level are different things entirely.
The context matters. Saudi Arabia churned through Roberto Mancini and Herve Renard during qualification before appointing Donis in April, just two months before the tournament. No coach in World Cup history has been handed a shorter runway. Donis knows Saudi football intimately from a decade in the Pro League, and that familiarity with the players is the reason the SAFF chose him over higher-profile candidates. But familiarity does not replace time on the training ground, and Saturday's performance showed that the tactical identity is still very much under construction.
There are two more friendlies before it gets real. Puerto Rico on June 5 in Austin. Senegal on June 9 in San Antonio. Those matches will tell us more about Donis's preferred shape, his first-choice midfield pairing, and whether Al-Dawsari starts or comes off the bench as an impact player. Saturday was the first brushstroke. It was not a masterpiece. But it was a start.
The last time Saudi Arabia played a World Cup on American soil, in 1994, they reached the round of 16. Saeed Al-Owairan scored one of the greatest goals in tournament history against Belgium. That team had been together for years under Jorge Solari. This team has been together for weeks under Donis. The romance of the parallel is obvious. The gap between then and now, on the evidence of Saturday night, is not.
That detail tells you everything about where this franchise is right now: producing elite basketball regardless of postcode.
Dubai Basketball face Panathinaikos Athens today in EuroLeague Round 33, the latest chapter in what has quietly become one of the most compelling stories in European sport. The club was founded in 2023. Three years later, it is competing against Real Madrid, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce, and Barcelona in the most prestigious club basketball competition outside the NBA. It has beaten all of them.
The trajectory is dizzying even by Dubai's standards for ambitious sporting projects. In January 2024, the Adriatic Basketball Association confirmed Dubai's inclusion for a three-year term. The club's founders, Abdulla Saeed Juma Al Naboodah and Dejan Kamenasevic, hired Jurica Golemac as head coach, signed Nate Mason as their first player, and brought in Davis Bertans as the franchise's first athlete with NBA experience.
On September 22, 2024, Dubai played their first ever ABA League match at the Coca-Cola Arena and beat Red Star Belgrade. Not drew. Not competed bravely. Won. They went on to defeat Partizan, Zadar, and Cedevita Olimpija, reaching the ABA League playoffs in their debut season before Partizan eliminated them in the semi-finals.
Then came the EuroLeague. In June 2025, Dubai received a five-year licence to compete in Europe's top tier, becoming the first non-Israeli team from outside the continent to play in the competition. The budget was set at a reported 16 million euros. The roster was assembled with the same purposeful ambition: Bacon for scoring, McKinley Wright for playmaking, Mfiondu Kabengele for interior presence, Filip Petrusev for versatility. Golemac was tasked with turning a collection of talented individuals into a team capable of surviving against clubs with decades of European pedigree.
October was a reality check. Dubai went 2-5 in EuroLeague play, the harsh lessons of elite continental basketball administered by Monaco, Partizan, and others. But even in that opening month, there were flashes of what was to come. On October 14, Dubai demolished Fenerbahce 93-69 on the road in Istanbul, a result that sent shockwaves through the competition. Kabengele scored 26 points. It was not a fluke. In the same month, they beat Barcelona. These were not narrow escapes against distracted opponents. They were statements.
December brought stability: three wins from five EuroLeague games, including a 99-92 home victory over Olimpia Milano that saw Bacon pour in 25 points. January was tougher, 2-5 against a brutal schedule. But then February arrived, and Dubai Basketball caught fire. Four EuroLeague games, four wins. They beat Olympiakos 108-98, scoring with a fluency that had the Coca-Cola Arena rocking. They beat Real Madrid 93-85, outplaying the most decorated club in European basketball history. They went to Milan and won 96-78, with Kabengele collecting 22 points and controlling the glass. They closed the month against ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, winning 96-85 to complete a perfect February.
The numbers from that stretch are remarkable. Dubai averaged 98.25 points per game across those four February fixtures while conceding 86.50. This was not defence-first survival basketball. This was an attacking team playing with confidence and creativity, Wright orchestrating from the point with his 5.5 assists per game, Bacon leading the scoring charts, and Kabengele providing the physical anchor with 7.25 rebounds per contest. Petrusev, who dropped 21 in a road win at Paris back in January, offered the kind of positional versatility that modern European basketball demands.
March has tested the franchise in a different way. Regional disruption forced the club to relocate home fixtures to Zetra Arena in Sarajevo, a decision taken in coordination with EuroLeague Basketball. Playing "home" games 4,000 kilometres from Dubai is not ideal for any team, let alone one in its debut European season. The Coca-Cola Arena, a 15,000-seat venue that has become a genuine home-court fortress, was suddenly unavailable. Ticket sales were paused. The rhythm of match-night Dubai, the pre-game buzz along Al Wasl, the growing community of basketball fans who have adopted this team, was interrupted.
Dubai Basketball responded the way they have responded to every obstacle this season: by winning. On March 12, playing at Zetra, they beat Baskonia 100-94. Three days later, same venue, they put 114 points on Crvena Zvezda to win 114-91. The scorelines do not suggest a team unsettled by unfamiliar surroundings. They suggest a team that has internalised its identity and carries it wherever it goes.
The ABA League campaign has been equally impressive. Dubai sit near the top of the standings with an 18-2 record, including a commanding 95-78 win away at Buducnost in Montenegro that demonstrated the squad's depth and discipline on the road. The twin-competition schedule, EuroLeague midweek and ABA League at weekends, has stretched the roster but also hardened it. Golemac has managed minutes judiciously, rotating his lineup to keep legs fresh and confidence high across both fronts.
What makes this story resonate beyond the basketball is what it represents for the Gulf's sporting ambitions. Dubai has hosted world-class events across a dozen disciplines for decades, from tennis to horse racing to Formula 1. But hosting and competing are fundamentally different propositions. Dubai Basketball is not a tournament brought to the city for a week. It is a franchise, built from scratch, competing year-round against the best in Europe, with its own players, its own identity, and its own fans. The Coca-Cola Arena on EuroLeague nights has become one of the most atmospheric venues in the competition, a fact acknowledged by visiting coaches and players who have spoken about the energy generated by a crowd discovering elite basketball for the first time.
The season still has distance to cover. With five regular-season rounds remaining before the April 17 conclusion, Dubai's position in the 20-team standings will determine whether their debut campaign extends into the play-in round or ends at the group stage. Either outcome would represent a remarkable achievement for a club that did not exist 36 months ago. The fact that the conversation is about potential postseason qualification, rather than mere survival, speaks to the speed at which this project has developed.
Bacon, Wright, Kabengele, Petrusev, Golemac: the names may not yet carry the recognition of the stars who grace the Coca-Cola Arena in other sports. But they are building something. A basketball culture does not appear overnight. It grows through Wednesday night wins against Italian giants, through February runs that announce a club's arrival on the continental stage, through players named in weekly awards while competing far from home.
Dubai Basketball's debut EuroLeague season is not finished. But it has already exceeded what anyone outside the franchise imagined was possible.
That detail tells you everything about where this franchise is right now: producing elite basketball regardless of postcode.
Dubai Basketball face Panathinaikos Athens today in EuroLeague Round 33, the latest chapter in what has quietly become one of the most compelling stories in European sport. The club was founded in 2023. Three years later, it is competing against Real Madrid, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce, and Barcelona in the most prestigious club basketball competition outside the NBA. It has beaten all of them.
The trajectory is dizzying even by Dubai's standards for ambitious sporting projects. In January 2024, the Adriatic Basketball Association confirmed Dubai's inclusion for a three-year term. The club's founders, Abdulla Saeed Juma Al Naboodah and Dejan Kamenasevic, hired Jurica Golemac as head coach, signed Nate Mason as their first player, and brought in Davis Bertans as the franchise's first athlete with NBA experience.
On September 22, 2024, Dubai played their first ever ABA League match at the Coca-Cola Arena and beat Red Star Belgrade. Not drew. Not competed bravely. Won. They went on to defeat Partizan, Zadar, and Cedevita Olimpija, reaching the ABA League playoffs in their debut season before Partizan eliminated them in the semi-finals.
Then came the EuroLeague. In June 2025, Dubai received a five-year licence to compete in Europe's top tier, becoming the first non-Israeli team from outside the continent to play in the competition. The budget was set at a reported 16 million euros. The roster was assembled with the same purposeful ambition: Bacon for scoring, McKinley Wright for playmaking, Mfiondu Kabengele for interior presence, Filip Petrusev for versatility. Golemac was tasked with turning a collection of talented individuals into a team capable of surviving against clubs with decades of European pedigree.
October was a reality check. Dubai went 2-5 in EuroLeague play, the harsh lessons of elite continental basketball administered by Monaco, Partizan, and others. But even in that opening month, there were flashes of what was to come. On October 14, Dubai demolished Fenerbahce 93-69 on the road in Istanbul, a result that sent shockwaves through the competition. Kabengele scored 26 points. It was not a fluke. In the same month, they beat Barcelona. These were not narrow escapes against distracted opponents. They were statements.
December brought stability: three wins from five EuroLeague games, including a 99-92 home victory over Olimpia Milano that saw Bacon pour in 25 points. January was tougher, 2-5 against a brutal schedule. But then February arrived, and Dubai Basketball caught fire. Four EuroLeague games, four wins. They beat Olympiakos 108-98, scoring with a fluency that had the Coca-Cola Arena rocking. They beat Real Madrid 93-85, outplaying the most decorated club in European basketball history. They went to Milan and won 96-78, with Kabengele collecting 22 points and controlling the glass. They closed the month against ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, winning 96-85 to complete a perfect February.
The numbers from that stretch are remarkable. Dubai averaged 98.25 points per game across those four February fixtures while conceding 86.50. This was not defence-first survival basketball. This was an attacking team playing with confidence and creativity, Wright orchestrating from the point with his 5.5 assists per game, Bacon leading the scoring charts, and Kabengele providing the physical anchor with 7.25 rebounds per contest. Petrusev, who dropped 21 in a road win at Paris back in January, offered the kind of positional versatility that modern European basketball demands.
March has tested the franchise in a different way. Regional disruption forced the club to relocate home fixtures to Zetra Arena in Sarajevo, a decision taken in coordination with EuroLeague Basketball. Playing "home" games 4,000 kilometres from Dubai is not ideal for any team, let alone one in its debut European season. The Coca-Cola Arena, a 15,000-seat venue that has become a genuine home-court fortress, was suddenly unavailable. Ticket sales were paused. The rhythm of match-night Dubai, the pre-game buzz along Al Wasl, the growing community of basketball fans who have adopted this team, was interrupted.
Dubai Basketball responded the way they have responded to every obstacle this season: by winning. On March 12, playing at Zetra, they beat Baskonia 100-94. Three days later, same venue, they put 114 points on Crvena Zvezda to win 114-91. The scorelines do not suggest a team unsettled by unfamiliar surroundings. They suggest a team that has internalised its identity and carries it wherever it goes.
The ABA League campaign has been equally impressive. Dubai sit near the top of the standings with an 18-2 record, including a commanding 95-78 win away at Buducnost in Montenegro that demonstrated the squad's depth and discipline on the road. The twin-competition schedule, EuroLeague midweek and ABA League at weekends, has stretched the roster but also hardened it. Golemac has managed minutes judiciously, rotating his lineup to keep legs fresh and confidence high across both fronts.
What makes this story resonate beyond the basketball is what it represents for the Gulf's sporting ambitions. Dubai has hosted world-class events across a dozen disciplines for decades, from tennis to horse racing to Formula 1. But hosting and competing are fundamentally different propositions. Dubai Basketball is not a tournament brought to the city for a week. It is a franchise, built from scratch, competing year-round against the best in Europe, with its own players, its own identity, and its own fans. The Coca-Cola Arena on EuroLeague nights has become one of the most atmospheric venues in the competition, a fact acknowledged by visiting coaches and players who have spoken about the energy generated by a crowd discovering elite basketball for the first time.
The season still has distance to cover. With five regular-season rounds remaining before the April 17 conclusion, Dubai's position in the 20-team standings will determine whether their debut campaign extends into the play-in round or ends at the group stage. Either outcome would represent a remarkable achievement for a club that did not exist 36 months ago. The fact that the conversation is about potential postseason qualification, rather than mere survival, speaks to the speed at which this project has developed.
Bacon, Wright, Kabengele, Petrusev, Golemac: the names may not yet carry the recognition of the stars who grace the Coca-Cola Arena in other sports. But they are building something. A basketball culture does not appear overnight. It grows through Wednesday night wins against Italian giants, through February runs that announce a club's arrival on the continental stage, through players named in weekly awards while competing far from home.
Dubai Basketball's debut EuroLeague season is not finished. But it has already exceeded what anyone outside the franchise imagined was possible.
That detail tells you everything about where this franchise is right now: producing elite basketball regardless of postcode.
Dubai Basketball face Panathinaikos Athens today in EuroLeague Round 33, the latest chapter in what has quietly become one of the most compelling stories in European sport. The club was founded in 2023. Three years later, it is competing against Real Madrid, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce, and Barcelona in the most prestigious club basketball competition outside the NBA. It has beaten all of them.
The trajectory is dizzying even by Dubai's standards for ambitious sporting projects. In January 2024, the Adriatic Basketball Association confirmed Dubai's inclusion for a three-year term. The club's founders, Abdulla Saeed Juma Al Naboodah and Dejan Kamenasevic, hired Jurica Golemac as head coach, signed Nate Mason as their first player, and brought in Davis Bertans as the franchise's first athlete with NBA experience.
On September 22, 2024, Dubai played their first ever ABA League match at the Coca-Cola Arena and beat Red Star Belgrade. Not drew. Not competed bravely. Won. They went on to defeat Partizan, Zadar, and Cedevita Olimpija, reaching the ABA League playoffs in their debut season before Partizan eliminated them in the semi-finals.
Then came the EuroLeague. In June 2025, Dubai received a five-year licence to compete in Europe's top tier, becoming the first non-Israeli team from outside the continent to play in the competition. The budget was set at a reported 16 million euros. The roster was assembled with the same purposeful ambition: Bacon for scoring, McKinley Wright for playmaking, Mfiondu Kabengele for interior presence, Filip Petrusev for versatility. Golemac was tasked with turning a collection of talented individuals into a team capable of surviving against clubs with decades of European pedigree.
October was a reality check. Dubai went 2-5 in EuroLeague play, the harsh lessons of elite continental basketball administered by Monaco, Partizan, and others. But even in that opening month, there were flashes of what was to come. On October 14, Dubai demolished Fenerbahce 93-69 on the road in Istanbul, a result that sent shockwaves through the competition. Kabengele scored 26 points. It was not a fluke. In the same month, they beat Barcelona. These were not narrow escapes against distracted opponents. They were statements.
December brought stability: three wins from five EuroLeague games, including a 99-92 home victory over Olimpia Milano that saw Bacon pour in 25 points. January was tougher, 2-5 against a brutal schedule. But then February arrived, and Dubai Basketball caught fire. Four EuroLeague games, four wins. They beat Olympiakos 108-98, scoring with a fluency that had the Coca-Cola Arena rocking. They beat Real Madrid 93-85, outplaying the most decorated club in European basketball history. They went to Milan and won 96-78, with Kabengele collecting 22 points and controlling the glass. They closed the month against ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, winning 96-85 to complete a perfect February.
The numbers from that stretch are remarkable. Dubai averaged 98.25 points per game across those four February fixtures while conceding 86.50. This was not defence-first survival basketball. This was an attacking team playing with confidence and creativity, Wright orchestrating from the point with his 5.5 assists per game, Bacon leading the scoring charts, and Kabengele providing the physical anchor with 7.25 rebounds per contest. Petrusev, who dropped 21 in a road win at Paris back in January, offered the kind of positional versatility that modern European basketball demands.
March has tested the franchise in a different way. Regional disruption forced the club to relocate home fixtures to Zetra Arena in Sarajevo, a decision taken in coordination with EuroLeague Basketball. Playing "home" games 4,000 kilometres from Dubai is not ideal for any team, let alone one in its debut European season. The Coca-Cola Arena, a 15,000-seat venue that has become a genuine home-court fortress, was suddenly unavailable. Ticket sales were paused. The rhythm of match-night Dubai, the pre-game buzz along Al Wasl, the growing community of basketball fans who have adopted this team, was interrupted.
Dubai Basketball responded the way they have responded to every obstacle this season: by winning. On March 12, playing at Zetra, they beat Baskonia 100-94. Three days later, same venue, they put 114 points on Crvena Zvezda to win 114-91. The scorelines do not suggest a team unsettled by unfamiliar surroundings. They suggest a team that has internalised its identity and carries it wherever it goes.
The ABA League campaign has been equally impressive. Dubai sit near the top of the standings with an 18-2 record, including a commanding 95-78 win away at Buducnost in Montenegro that demonstrated the squad's depth and discipline on the road. The twin-competition schedule, EuroLeague midweek and ABA League at weekends, has stretched the roster but also hardened it. Golemac has managed minutes judiciously, rotating his lineup to keep legs fresh and confidence high across both fronts.
What makes this story resonate beyond the basketball is what it represents for the Gulf's sporting ambitions. Dubai has hosted world-class events across a dozen disciplines for decades, from tennis to horse racing to Formula 1. But hosting and competing are fundamentally different propositions. Dubai Basketball is not a tournament brought to the city for a week. It is a franchise, built from scratch, competing year-round against the best in Europe, with its own players, its own identity, and its own fans. The Coca-Cola Arena on EuroLeague nights has become one of the most atmospheric venues in the competition, a fact acknowledged by visiting coaches and players who have spoken about the energy generated by a crowd discovering elite basketball for the first time.
The season still has distance to cover. With five regular-season rounds remaining before the April 17 conclusion, Dubai's position in the 20-team standings will determine whether their debut campaign extends into the play-in round or ends at the group stage. Either outcome would represent a remarkable achievement for a club that did not exist 36 months ago. The fact that the conversation is about potential postseason qualification, rather than mere survival, speaks to the speed at which this project has developed.
Bacon, Wright, Kabengele, Petrusev, Golemac: the names may not yet carry the recognition of the stars who grace the Coca-Cola Arena in other sports. But they are building something. A basketball culture does not appear overnight. It grows through Wednesday night wins against Italian giants, through February runs that announce a club's arrival on the continental stage, through players named in weekly awards while competing far from home.
Dubai Basketball's debut EuroLeague season is not finished. But it has already exceeded what anyone outside the franchise imagined was possible.
He won the Saudi Super Cup in London. He engineered one of the greatest relegation escapes in the league's history. And now, at 55, he has signed a two-year deal with Al Khaleej, the Saihat-based club who finished 12th this season and need exactly the kind of manager who knows how to build something from limited resources.
It is, on one level, an unremarkable appointment. Lower-half club hires experienced league coach. The press release was two paragraphs. The announcement video ran 30 seconds.
But spend any time around the Saudi Pro League and you understand that Gomes is not an unremarkable figure. He is the closest thing the competition has to a survivor, a Portuguese coach who first arrived in the Kingdom in the summer of 2014 and has kept returning, through managerial sackings and continental adventures and a tearful departure from Zamalek, because he understands this league in a way that few foreign coaches ever have.
Al Khaleej's recent history explains the hire. Georgios Donis left in April to take charge of the Saudi national team ahead of the World Cup, leaving the club without a head coach with seven matches remaining. Gustavo Poyet was brought in on a short-term deal. The Uruguayan won two and lost five. Al Khaleej finished 12th, safe from relegation but directionless. Poyet's contract expired. The club needed someone who could walk in, understand the landscape immediately, and start building for 2026-27 without a prolonged adjustment period. They needed Gomes.
His record at Al Fateh tells you why. When he arrived in December 2024, the club from Al Ahsa were rock bottom with one win from their first 13 matches. Six points from a possible 39. A squad that had stopped believing it could compete. Gomes switched to a 4-2-3-1, demanded higher physical intensity, restructured the defensive shape, and won eight of the last 12 matches to drag Al Fateh to a 10th-placed finish. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds the Saudi Pro League had ever seen. The players spoke about it afterwards as if they had been rescued.
The following season, 2025-26, was steadier but less dramatic. Al Fateh finished 11th. Not glamorous. Not headline-worthy. But for a club with Al Fateh's budget, in a league where the top four spend more on individual transfer fees than the bottom six spend on entire squads, survival is the job. Gomes did the job. He always does the job.
The breadth of his Saudi experience is difficult to overstate. He managed Al Taawoun from 2014 to 2016, returned in 2017-18, and came back for a third stint in 2021-22. Three separate appointments at the same club is rare in any league. In Saudi football, where coaching tenures are measured in months, it borders on extraordinary. At Al Ahli, he won the Saudi Super Cup in 2016, beating Al Hilal on penalties in a match played at Craven Cottage in London. It remains the only piece of silverware on his Saudi resume, but the manner of the victory, a disciplined tactical performance against the league's dominant force, earned him a reputation as a coach who could organise teams to punch above their weight.
Between Saudi stints, Gomes managed Reading in the English Championship (2018-19), Maritimo in Portugal (twice), Almeria in Spain, and Zamalek in Egypt. At Zamalek, he won the CAF Confederations Cup and the CAF Super Cup before leaving with tears in his eyes and a statement that read: "I feel an endless love for the Egyptian people and Zamalek fans, who were instrumental in our victories." The emotion was genuine. So was the pragmatism. He left because the conditions to compete had deteriorated. Within weeks, he was on a plane to Saudi Arabia.
That pragmatism is what Al Khaleej are buying. Gomes will not transform them into title contenders. That is not the remit. The remit is to build a competitive squad from predominantly domestic talent, to establish a tactical identity that can withstand the weekly physical and technical demands of a league that now features Ronaldo, Benzema, Toney, and a generation of elite internationals, and to keep Al Khaleej safely in the top flight while developing the kind of structure that allows a club to grow year on year. It is the work that happens away from the cameras, the work that never makes the highlight reels, and it is the work that Gomes has done at every Saudi club he has managed.
His 162 RSL appearances place him fourth on the all-time managers' list. His record of 56 wins, 44 draws, and 62 defeats is modest in isolation. In context, managing clubs who occupy the bottom third of the table for the vast majority of those matches, it represents consistent competitiveness against superior resources. The win percentage is not the point. The survival rate is.
Al Khaleej's supporters in Saihat will not be expecting miracles. They will be expecting organisation, effort, and a manager who respects the club's place in the league while pushing for improvement. Gomes has delivered exactly that at every stop in the Kingdom. He is not the most exciting appointment the Saudi Pro League has announced this summer. He may prove to be one of the smartest.
He won the Saudi Super Cup in London. He engineered one of the greatest relegation escapes in the league's history. And now, at 55, he has signed a two-year deal with Al Khaleej, the Saihat-based club who finished 12th this season and need exactly the kind of manager who knows how to build something from limited resources.
It is, on one level, an unremarkable appointment. Lower-half club hires experienced league coach. The press release was two paragraphs. The announcement video ran 30 seconds.
But spend any time around the Saudi Pro League and you understand that Gomes is not an unremarkable figure. He is the closest thing the competition has to a survivor, a Portuguese coach who first arrived in the Kingdom in the summer of 2014 and has kept returning, through managerial sackings and continental adventures and a tearful departure from Zamalek, because he understands this league in a way that few foreign coaches ever have.
Al Khaleej's recent history explains the hire. Georgios Donis left in April to take charge of the Saudi national team ahead of the World Cup, leaving the club without a head coach with seven matches remaining. Gustavo Poyet was brought in on a short-term deal. The Uruguayan won two and lost five. Al Khaleej finished 12th, safe from relegation but directionless. Poyet's contract expired. The club needed someone who could walk in, understand the landscape immediately, and start building for 2026-27 without a prolonged adjustment period. They needed Gomes.
His record at Al Fateh tells you why. When he arrived in December 2024, the club from Al Ahsa were rock bottom with one win from their first 13 matches. Six points from a possible 39. A squad that had stopped believing it could compete. Gomes switched to a 4-2-3-1, demanded higher physical intensity, restructured the defensive shape, and won eight of the last 12 matches to drag Al Fateh to a 10th-placed finish. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds the Saudi Pro League had ever seen. The players spoke about it afterwards as if they had been rescued.
The following season, 2025-26, was steadier but less dramatic. Al Fateh finished 11th. Not glamorous. Not headline-worthy. But for a club with Al Fateh's budget, in a league where the top four spend more on individual transfer fees than the bottom six spend on entire squads, survival is the job. Gomes did the job. He always does the job.
The breadth of his Saudi experience is difficult to overstate. He managed Al Taawoun from 2014 to 2016, returned in 2017-18, and came back for a third stint in 2021-22. Three separate appointments at the same club is rare in any league. In Saudi football, where coaching tenures are measured in months, it borders on extraordinary. At Al Ahli, he won the Saudi Super Cup in 2016, beating Al Hilal on penalties in a match played at Craven Cottage in London. It remains the only piece of silverware on his Saudi resume, but the manner of the victory, a disciplined tactical performance against the league's dominant force, earned him a reputation as a coach who could organise teams to punch above their weight.
Between Saudi stints, Gomes managed Reading in the English Championship (2018-19), Maritimo in Portugal (twice), Almeria in Spain, and Zamalek in Egypt. At Zamalek, he won the CAF Confederations Cup and the CAF Super Cup before leaving with tears in his eyes and a statement that read: "I feel an endless love for the Egyptian people and Zamalek fans, who were instrumental in our victories." The emotion was genuine. So was the pragmatism. He left because the conditions to compete had deteriorated. Within weeks, he was on a plane to Saudi Arabia.
That pragmatism is what Al Khaleej are buying. Gomes will not transform them into title contenders. That is not the remit. The remit is to build a competitive squad from predominantly domestic talent, to establish a tactical identity that can withstand the weekly physical and technical demands of a league that now features Ronaldo, Benzema, Toney, and a generation of elite internationals, and to keep Al Khaleej safely in the top flight while developing the kind of structure that allows a club to grow year on year. It is the work that happens away from the cameras, the work that never makes the highlight reels, and it is the work that Gomes has done at every Saudi club he has managed.
His 162 RSL appearances place him fourth on the all-time managers' list. His record of 56 wins, 44 draws, and 62 defeats is modest in isolation. In context, managing clubs who occupy the bottom third of the table for the vast majority of those matches, it represents consistent competitiveness against superior resources. The win percentage is not the point. The survival rate is.
Al Khaleej's supporters in Saihat will not be expecting miracles. They will be expecting organisation, effort, and a manager who respects the club's place in the league while pushing for improvement. Gomes has delivered exactly that at every stop in the Kingdom. He is not the most exciting appointment the Saudi Pro League has announced this summer. He may prove to be one of the smartest.
He won the Saudi Super Cup in London. He engineered one of the greatest relegation escapes in the league's history. And now, at 55, he has signed a two-year deal with Al Khaleej, the Saihat-based club who finished 12th this season and need exactly the kind of manager who knows how to build something from limited resources.
It is, on one level, an unremarkable appointment. Lower-half club hires experienced league coach. The press release was two paragraphs. The announcement video ran 30 seconds.
But spend any time around the Saudi Pro League and you understand that Gomes is not an unremarkable figure. He is the closest thing the competition has to a survivor, a Portuguese coach who first arrived in the Kingdom in the summer of 2014 and has kept returning, through managerial sackings and continental adventures and a tearful departure from Zamalek, because he understands this league in a way that few foreign coaches ever have.
Al Khaleej's recent history explains the hire. Georgios Donis left in April to take charge of the Saudi national team ahead of the World Cup, leaving the club without a head coach with seven matches remaining. Gustavo Poyet was brought in on a short-term deal. The Uruguayan won two and lost five. Al Khaleej finished 12th, safe from relegation but directionless. Poyet's contract expired. The club needed someone who could walk in, understand the landscape immediately, and start building for 2026-27 without a prolonged adjustment period. They needed Gomes.
His record at Al Fateh tells you why. When he arrived in December 2024, the club from Al Ahsa were rock bottom with one win from their first 13 matches. Six points from a possible 39. A squad that had stopped believing it could compete. Gomes switched to a 4-2-3-1, demanded higher physical intensity, restructured the defensive shape, and won eight of the last 12 matches to drag Al Fateh to a 10th-placed finish. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds the Saudi Pro League had ever seen. The players spoke about it afterwards as if they had been rescued.
The following season, 2025-26, was steadier but less dramatic. Al Fateh finished 11th. Not glamorous. Not headline-worthy. But for a club with Al Fateh's budget, in a league where the top four spend more on individual transfer fees than the bottom six spend on entire squads, survival is the job. Gomes did the job. He always does the job.
The breadth of his Saudi experience is difficult to overstate. He managed Al Taawoun from 2014 to 2016, returned in 2017-18, and came back for a third stint in 2021-22. Three separate appointments at the same club is rare in any league. In Saudi football, where coaching tenures are measured in months, it borders on extraordinary. At Al Ahli, he won the Saudi Super Cup in 2016, beating Al Hilal on penalties in a match played at Craven Cottage in London. It remains the only piece of silverware on his Saudi resume, but the manner of the victory, a disciplined tactical performance against the league's dominant force, earned him a reputation as a coach who could organise teams to punch above their weight.
Between Saudi stints, Gomes managed Reading in the English Championship (2018-19), Maritimo in Portugal (twice), Almeria in Spain, and Zamalek in Egypt. At Zamalek, he won the CAF Confederations Cup and the CAF Super Cup before leaving with tears in his eyes and a statement that read: "I feel an endless love for the Egyptian people and Zamalek fans, who were instrumental in our victories." The emotion was genuine. So was the pragmatism. He left because the conditions to compete had deteriorated. Within weeks, he was on a plane to Saudi Arabia.
That pragmatism is what Al Khaleej are buying. Gomes will not transform them into title contenders. That is not the remit. The remit is to build a competitive squad from predominantly domestic talent, to establish a tactical identity that can withstand the weekly physical and technical demands of a league that now features Ronaldo, Benzema, Toney, and a generation of elite internationals, and to keep Al Khaleej safely in the top flight while developing the kind of structure that allows a club to grow year on year. It is the work that happens away from the cameras, the work that never makes the highlight reels, and it is the work that Gomes has done at every Saudi club he has managed.
His 162 RSL appearances place him fourth on the all-time managers' list. His record of 56 wins, 44 draws, and 62 defeats is modest in isolation. In context, managing clubs who occupy the bottom third of the table for the vast majority of those matches, it represents consistent competitiveness against superior resources. The win percentage is not the point. The survival rate is.
Al Khaleej's supporters in Saihat will not be expecting miracles. They will be expecting organisation, effort, and a manager who respects the club's place in the league while pushing for improvement. Gomes has delivered exactly that at every stop in the Kingdom. He is not the most exciting appointment the Saudi Pro League has announced this summer. He may prove to be one of the smartest.
May 28, 2026
6 min read
Apr 27, 2026
4 min read
Press box access, every Friday
Press box access, every Friday
Press box access, every Friday
A weekly briefing from Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Doha. Tactical analysis, transfer intelligence, and the stories shaping Gulf sport. Written for readers, not algorithms.
On April 10 to 12, the circus arrives at the Bahrain International Circuit for Round 4 of the championship. Seven days later, on April 17 to 19, the cars line up under the floodlights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for Round 5. Two races, two Gulf nations, consecutive weekends, and potentially the defining stretch of the early 2026 season.
The scheduling is not accidental. Ramadan falls across February and March this year, pushing both races into April and creating a back to back sequence that has significant implications for the championship. By the time the teams arrive in Sakhir, three rounds will already be in the books from Australia, China, and Japan. The early form guide will have been established, the initial regulation advantages identified, and the Bahrain-Saudi double header will be the first real chance for teams to either consolidate or respond. Two races in quick succession with minimal travel between them is a gift for any outfit that has found something in the data. It is a nightmare for anyone who has not.
The circuits themselves could hardly be more different. Bahrain's 5.412 kilometre layout is a purpose built facility in the desert, heavy on traction zones and slow speed corners, punishing on rear tyres and braking stability. It is a track that rewards patience and mechanical grip, the kind of circuit where teams traditionally learn the most about their car's fundamental balance. Jeddah is the opposite in almost every respect. At 6.1 kilometres, the Corniche Circuit is the fastest street track in F1, with average speeds around 250 kilometres per hour and 27 corners, more than any other venue on the calendar. The walls are close, the margins are thin, and the premium is on confidence and aerodynamic efficiency.
A car that works in Bahrain will not necessarily work in Jeddah, and vice versa. The double header will expose any team trying to optimise for one philosophy at the expense of another.
What makes this pairing particularly significant in 2026 is the new regulations. The overhauled power units, with their increased electrical output and mandatory recharge zones, will behave differently at each venue. Bahrain's stop start nature loads the energy recovery system heavily under braking. Jeddah's long, sweeping corners and extended full throttle sections demand sustained deployment with fewer opportunities to harvest.
Battery management strategy that works at Sakhir may be completely wrong for the Corniche a week later. Teams will need two distinct approaches in the space of seven days, and that kind of adaptability will separate the genuine contenders from everyone else.
The Gulf's growing presence on the F1 calendar deserves recognition in its own right. Bahrain joined the calendar in 2004. Saudi Arabia followed in 2021. Abu Dhabi has hosted the season finale since 2009 and will do so again this December. Qatar held its first Grand Prix in 2021 and rotates with other venues. The GCC now accounts for three guaranteed rounds per season, plus all six days of official pre-season testing in Bahrain. No other region in the world has that concentration of F1 activity.
The logistics are favourable, the facilities are world class, the weather is reliable, and the commercial appetite from sponsors like Aramco and Gulf Air continues to grow.
For fans based in the region, the April double header is the highlight of the calendar.
Two live races within driving or short flight distance of each other, both with night sessions, both with the kind of hospitality and spectacle that the Gulf does better than almost anywhere. The atmosphere in Jeddah, where the Red Sea coastline provides the backdrop and the cars thread through the waterfront at absurd speeds, is genuinely unlike anything else in the sport.
The 2026 season will be defined by who adapts fastest to the new regulations. And the clearest early test of that adaptability sits in the Gulf, across two consecutive weekends in April. Pay attention.
On April 10 to 12, the circus arrives at the Bahrain International Circuit for Round 4 of the championship. Seven days later, on April 17 to 19, the cars line up under the floodlights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for Round 5. Two races, two Gulf nations, consecutive weekends, and potentially the defining stretch of the early 2026 season.
The scheduling is not accidental. Ramadan falls across February and March this year, pushing both races into April and creating a back to back sequence that has significant implications for the championship. By the time the teams arrive in Sakhir, three rounds will already be in the books from Australia, China, and Japan. The early form guide will have been established, the initial regulation advantages identified, and the Bahrain-Saudi double header will be the first real chance for teams to either consolidate or respond. Two races in quick succession with minimal travel between them is a gift for any outfit that has found something in the data. It is a nightmare for anyone who has not.
The circuits themselves could hardly be more different. Bahrain's 5.412 kilometre layout is a purpose built facility in the desert, heavy on traction zones and slow speed corners, punishing on rear tyres and braking stability. It is a track that rewards patience and mechanical grip, the kind of circuit where teams traditionally learn the most about their car's fundamental balance. Jeddah is the opposite in almost every respect. At 6.1 kilometres, the Corniche Circuit is the fastest street track in F1, with average speeds around 250 kilometres per hour and 27 corners, more than any other venue on the calendar. The walls are close, the margins are thin, and the premium is on confidence and aerodynamic efficiency.
A car that works in Bahrain will not necessarily work in Jeddah, and vice versa. The double header will expose any team trying to optimise for one philosophy at the expense of another.
What makes this pairing particularly significant in 2026 is the new regulations. The overhauled power units, with their increased electrical output and mandatory recharge zones, will behave differently at each venue. Bahrain's stop start nature loads the energy recovery system heavily under braking. Jeddah's long, sweeping corners and extended full throttle sections demand sustained deployment with fewer opportunities to harvest.
Battery management strategy that works at Sakhir may be completely wrong for the Corniche a week later. Teams will need two distinct approaches in the space of seven days, and that kind of adaptability will separate the genuine contenders from everyone else.
The Gulf's growing presence on the F1 calendar deserves recognition in its own right. Bahrain joined the calendar in 2004. Saudi Arabia followed in 2021. Abu Dhabi has hosted the season finale since 2009 and will do so again this December. Qatar held its first Grand Prix in 2021 and rotates with other venues. The GCC now accounts for three guaranteed rounds per season, plus all six days of official pre-season testing in Bahrain. No other region in the world has that concentration of F1 activity.
The logistics are favourable, the facilities are world class, the weather is reliable, and the commercial appetite from sponsors like Aramco and Gulf Air continues to grow.
For fans based in the region, the April double header is the highlight of the calendar.
Two live races within driving or short flight distance of each other, both with night sessions, both with the kind of hospitality and spectacle that the Gulf does better than almost anywhere. The atmosphere in Jeddah, where the Red Sea coastline provides the backdrop and the cars thread through the waterfront at absurd speeds, is genuinely unlike anything else in the sport.
The 2026 season will be defined by who adapts fastest to the new regulations. And the clearest early test of that adaptability sits in the Gulf, across two consecutive weekends in April. Pay attention.
On April 10 to 12, the circus arrives at the Bahrain International Circuit for Round 4 of the championship. Seven days later, on April 17 to 19, the cars line up under the floodlights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for Round 5. Two races, two Gulf nations, consecutive weekends, and potentially the defining stretch of the early 2026 season.
The scheduling is not accidental. Ramadan falls across February and March this year, pushing both races into April and creating a back to back sequence that has significant implications for the championship. By the time the teams arrive in Sakhir, three rounds will already be in the books from Australia, China, and Japan. The early form guide will have been established, the initial regulation advantages identified, and the Bahrain-Saudi double header will be the first real chance for teams to either consolidate or respond. Two races in quick succession with minimal travel between them is a gift for any outfit that has found something in the data. It is a nightmare for anyone who has not.
The circuits themselves could hardly be more different. Bahrain's 5.412 kilometre layout is a purpose built facility in the desert, heavy on traction zones and slow speed corners, punishing on rear tyres and braking stability. It is a track that rewards patience and mechanical grip, the kind of circuit where teams traditionally learn the most about their car's fundamental balance. Jeddah is the opposite in almost every respect. At 6.1 kilometres, the Corniche Circuit is the fastest street track in F1, with average speeds around 250 kilometres per hour and 27 corners, more than any other venue on the calendar. The walls are close, the margins are thin, and the premium is on confidence and aerodynamic efficiency.
A car that works in Bahrain will not necessarily work in Jeddah, and vice versa. The double header will expose any team trying to optimise for one philosophy at the expense of another.
What makes this pairing particularly significant in 2026 is the new regulations. The overhauled power units, with their increased electrical output and mandatory recharge zones, will behave differently at each venue. Bahrain's stop start nature loads the energy recovery system heavily under braking. Jeddah's long, sweeping corners and extended full throttle sections demand sustained deployment with fewer opportunities to harvest.
Battery management strategy that works at Sakhir may be completely wrong for the Corniche a week later. Teams will need two distinct approaches in the space of seven days, and that kind of adaptability will separate the genuine contenders from everyone else.
The Gulf's growing presence on the F1 calendar deserves recognition in its own right. Bahrain joined the calendar in 2004. Saudi Arabia followed in 2021. Abu Dhabi has hosted the season finale since 2009 and will do so again this December. Qatar held its first Grand Prix in 2021 and rotates with other venues. The GCC now accounts for three guaranteed rounds per season, plus all six days of official pre-season testing in Bahrain. No other region in the world has that concentration of F1 activity.
The logistics are favourable, the facilities are world class, the weather is reliable, and the commercial appetite from sponsors like Aramco and Gulf Air continues to grow.
For fans based in the region, the April double header is the highlight of the calendar.
Two live races within driving or short flight distance of each other, both with night sessions, both with the kind of hospitality and spectacle that the Gulf does better than almost anywhere. The atmosphere in Jeddah, where the Red Sea coastline provides the backdrop and the cars thread through the waterfront at absurd speeds, is genuinely unlike anything else in the sport.
The 2026 season will be defined by who adapts fastest to the new regulations. And the clearest early test of that adaptability sits in the Gulf, across two consecutive weekends in April. Pay attention.
