Arabic language on the world sports map

The Arab region today and for many years to come lives in the euphoria of the unprecedented success achieved by the brotherly Moroccan national team by reaching the semi-finals of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 for the first time in the history of Arab and African teams.

In light of this achievement and exceptional event, the American newspaper “The New York Times” confirmed that, regardless of which team wins the cup, the World Cup in Qatar 2022 will remain a Moroccan championship.

In addition, everyone praised the excellent organization of the tournament by the state of Qatar, as it is the first World Cup to be held on Arab soil.

Also, as part of the end of the tournament, the president of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced the establishment of the World Club Championship 2023 AD in the sister Kingdom of Morocco, where it should be held next February, and the Egyptian Al-Ahly Club will also participate in it, as vice-champion of the CAF Champions League in 2022, along with the Moroccan club Wydad, as the champion of the African Champions League and the champion of the Moroccan league.

By sheer coincidence, the end of the FIFA World Cup – Qatar 2022 AD coincides with the celebration of the International Arabic Language Day, which falls every year on the eighteenth of December.

Speaking of sports and the Arabic language, the conversation should address the decision of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) to accept “Arabic” as one of its official languages, which was made on March 31, 2022 AD.

And FIFA announced on the eighteenth of December 2021 AD that there is a proposal to adopt Arabic as one of the official languages ​​of FIFA, which coincides with the celebration of its international day and also with the end of the Arab Cup 2021 competition which was held for the first time under the auspices of the International Federation of Football Associations.

According to a FIFA statement issued in this regard, this decision comes “in recognition of the importance of the Arabic language, which is spoken by more than 450 million people in more than 20 Arabic-speaking countries, in addition to millions of Arabs worldwide. world.”

This decision appears to be the reason why the letter issued by FIFA to Al-Ahly of Egypt to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup – February 2023 was in Arabic, unlike in previous years where all correspondence issued by FIFA to Arab sports bodies.

Also, you can currently browse the official FIFA site in Arabic.

However, all the regulations issued by the Fédération Internationale de Football Associations are still not available in Arabic, which refers to the player transfer status list, the stadium safety and security list and other regulations issued by the Fédération Internationale de Football Associations. Football associations.

It goes without saying that for the translation of all the rules and regulations issued by FIFA, a budget is needed, which the International Federation will of course not provide by itself, but the necessary funds should be provided by one of the countries or competent authorities. We hope that one of the Arab countries will initiate contact with FIFA and show willingness to provide the necessary budget in this regard.

What we say in this sense does not only apply to FIFA, but also to the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Although Arabic is one of the official languages ​​of OSRH, the documents, rules and regulations issued by OSRH, which are published on the official website of the association, are written only in English and French and there is no copy of them in Arabic.

As long as we talk about the Arabic language in international sports bodies, the conversation must also touch on the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where English and French were the two official languages ​​of the court.

Recently, Spanish was added as one of the official languages.

We believe that it is necessary for the League of Arab States to launch an initiative to introduce the Arabic language in the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, in coordination with the Arab national sports federations, the Arab Football Federation and other Arab sports federations.

It is worth noting, in this sense, that the Second Arab Conference on Sports and Law, organized by the Arab Organization for Administrative Development and held from June 5 to 7, 2022, ended with its recommendations under the title “Cairo Declaration on sport and law”, in order to adopt the proposal of the delegation of the United Arab Emirates. United Nations regarding the inclusion of Arabic among the official languages ​​of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), similar to English, French and Spanish. The statement praised this approach, highlighting the support the efforts of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Abu Dhabi in this regard.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the International Federation of Football Associations recently established the FIFA Football Court, whose statute was approved last October.

We hope that the Arab presence in this court will be present, either by striving for Arabic to be one of the official languages, or by accepting the largest possible number of Arab arbitrators and lawyers qualified to resolve sports disputes related to football.

The same applies to the field of the International Basketball Federation.

On the third side, on October 11 last year, the International Council for Sports Arbitration approved amendments to the Law on Arbitration in Sports, and these changes will come into force on November 1 last year. With these changes, the number of members of the International Council of Sports Arbitration was increased from 20 to 22 members.

In the explanation of this decision, it is stated that this is due to a significant increase in the number of football arbitrations conducted by the Al-Kass court, in order to ensure a better representation of stakeholders in football.

However, looking at the list of recently selected members of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport for a period of three years (2023-2026), we find that among them is one Arab member, Dr. Abdullah Al-Hayyan, a Kuwaiti national, while two members are only from Spain and three members from Australia, two members are from the United States of America, and three members are Swiss citizens.

In total, there are eleven members from the European continent alone, while the remaining members are distributed on the other five continents of the world on Arab sports interests. And God has intentions behind.

Quoted from home