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.
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