Yemeni sports have lived a state of stalemate and a complete cessation of many of its 
activities for more than six years. This effect the entire sporting reality in terms of both 
technical and living.
 This is the sixth year since the beginning of the intervention of the Arab coalition led by 
Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Many questions continue about what goal it has achieved. yet the 
Houthis still control the capital, Sanaa and the Yemeni legitimacy that aims to control and rule 
the country is still in Riyadh since mid-March 2015. In addition, the influence of the UAE 
and its militias is still the strongest, after the militias have deliberately hatched in many 
Yemeni regions, so the disastrous results of the continuing war affected all aspects of life 
Economic, political, sports and social alike.
What happens to sport to be paralyzed? 
In fact, many factors did that. It will be summarized as follows:
First: The current conditions of the continuing war for the sixth year and the political 
polarization led to the absence of the sporting side in the midst of the exchange of accusations 
between the various political parties, so the continuation of political disputes between the

Yemeni parties affect the work of the Ministry of Youth And sports and on all sports clubs and 
gatherings in all Yemeni governorates, which was reflected in sport over Yemen. 
sport has completely paralyzed for five consecutive years, except some activities such as a 
revitalizing league during the past year.
Challenges and repercussions 
Second: The security challenges that male and female journalists face, inside Yemen due to 
the security and political situation. A number of journalists have been arrested under various 
pretexts, forcing a number of them to travel outside Yemen, and some of them died on their 
way to search for a safe and easy place to live in with dignity.
Third: The challenges that female journalists face on the social level. We have many customs 
and traditions that face female journalists in particular, from enrollment in education, 
universities and ending with journalistic participation and sports coverage, whether inside or 
outside Yemen.
Fourth: The economic challenges that male and female journalists face in Yemen. Yemen has 
been plagued by all its public sector since the fall of 2016 till this day under severe economic 
stress. During the last period, the United Nations statistics say that the bad economic situation 
of Yemen has shrunk by more than 50%. This situation has led in turn to an economic crisis 
that makes humanitarian situation more worse in Yemen. The complete cut of salaries for 
all government sectors has exacerbated the situation prompting many journalists, media 
professionals and those interested in the sports sector inside Yemen to search for decent living 
opportunities, and other jobs to secure for them and their families the basic necessities 
of life . Not to mention those who travel abroad in search of securing a stable source of living 
The exorbitant sports bill 
Fifth: The devastating effects of the war on Yemen. Today, Yemen “needs several years to 
restore what has been inflicted on sports over the past years, as a result of the massive 
destruction of the sports infrastructure and the suspension of various activities, according to 
statistics issued by the Ministry of Youth and Sports under the control of the Houthis in the 
capital, Sana'a . The war in Yemen destroyed more than 88 sports facilities, between a sports 
stadium and headquarters, at an estimated cost of about 222 billion Yemeni riyals (about $ 888

Yemeni football and the loss compass 
Sixth: The absence of planning, attention and care on the part of the concerned authorities, 
for example, the Yemeni Football Association is in a state of confusion and rampant 
administrative corruption by the aggression on Yemen. Many observers see that it is one of 
the most important reasons for the suffering of Yemeni football, and sports in general. 
Yemen is living in a bad reality even before the war. Observers of the state of sports in Yemen 
say that the mismanagement and the lack of a clear vision and strategies based on proper 
planning among those in charge of football who do not understand anything about sports and 
the ABCs of sports work, and therefore they are not interested in developing football Foot as 
much as they are concerned with prestige and making financial gains only.
Therefore, many sports fans hold the Yemeni Football Association, led by Ahmed Al-Issa, 
responsible for all the continuous failures of the national team, because the federation was 
and is still running its programs without well-studied scientific plans. Also, local sports critics 
believe that "the leadership of the Football Association is running its work randomly and 
erratically, has not benefited from the mistakes of the past, and is not taking serious steps in 
favor of developing Yemeni football. At a time when football today has become a study, 
science, thoughtful planning and diligence, well-studied training camps and technical 
equipment." High efficiency The problem of Yemeni football is not with the coaches. The 
local, Arab, European and African coach has been tried and the losses have not disappeared. 
The problem of Yemeni football lies in the absence of management and the modest level of 
local competitions. There can be no strong team without a strong league.
According to observers and those who interested in local football, it is difficult to enumerate 
the problems and causes of the multiple weakness of Yemeni football, which are divided 
administratively, technically, financially, and others. the leadership of association take the 
main part of that bad situation for sport in Yemen. To stop that, we need to train and qualify 
them through appropriate training camps, with the importance of holding competitions for

the race.
Disappointments 
The results of the Yemeni national teams in the recent Asian qualifiers drew rosy dreams in 
the imagination of the Yemeni football fans for a bright and close tomorrow, especially 
after the youth and young teams qualified for the finals while the first team is still struggling 
to catch up with them in the double qualifiers for the 2022 and Asia 2023 World Cups.
The Yemeni national team bid farewell to the last edition of the Gulf championship hosted by 
Qatar during the period from November 26 to December 8 last, from its first round that it 
ended at the bottom of the first group with a weak point of two defeats and tied against the 
Emirates, Qatar and Iraq, respectively, which disappointed the Yemeni fans who love sports. 
In total, the Yemeni national team participated in the Gulf Cup 9 times, which began in the 
16th edition in Kuwait in 2003, during which it fought 30 matches, failing to achieve even one 
victory in any of them, while it lost in 24 matches against 6 draws.
Hope for making a new reality 
Many hopes are placed on the establishment of new sporting entities and bodies, which will 
restore Yemeni sport to its lost glory, similar to the Yemeni Association for Sports Media 
(YASM), which was founded by the journalist / Basheer Sinan, and formed branches and

committees In most of the Yemeni governorates, a new hope is shining in the light to create a 
new, different reality.
The association, since its foundation, is moving steadily and solidly, as it has formed a new 
ray of hope for Yemeni journalists and athletes, by establishing training programs for 
journalists and accommodating a number of them in internal and external participations, in 
addition to its keenness on Yemeni journalists to address their rights like other journalists 
around the world, the last of these The glad tidings are what the association announced with 
the arrival of more than 128 membership in the International Federation of Sports Press, as a 
great record for the first time in the history of Yemeni sports media.
The Yemeni athlete who follows sports in Yemen continues to wonder about such reasons? 
Which affected Yemeni sports and what is being hatched behind the scenes, while many 
questions arise? Where is the real problem? And why has Yemeni sport not yet seen the light, 
despite its long and ancient history???