Baseball United, the first professional baseball league focused on the Middle East and South Asia, has announced plans to establish the UAE’s first national baseball team. This follows official sanctioning by the Emirates Cricket Board, which oversees bat-and-ball sports in the Gulf state. The initiative will also introduce a national baseball development programme, report local media.
The UAE team will debut at Baseball United’s inaugural Arab Classic tournament, running from 7-10 November 2024, at their new ballpark in Dubai. Teams from Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and five other nations will compete, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE fielding national baseball teams for the first time.
3 years of building. @EmiratesCricket x @BaseballUnited. Congratulations to our UAE baseball players, coaches, fans, and community. You now have a National Baseball Team. 🇦🇪⚾️❤️ pic.twitter.com/47NVVTdiq1
— Baseball United (@BaseballUnited) October 8, 2024
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“Thanks to the vision of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan… we’ve been able to reach another significant milestone for baseball in this region,” said Baseball United CEO Kash Shaikh. “We are excited to implement our baseball training curriculums and professional protocol, and get to work in developing the most competitive team possible.”
Baseball United will oversee player selection, development and participation in global competitions. Under World Baseball Classic rules, the UAE team will be able to include not only citizens, but also permanent residents and those with heritage ties to the country.
With 90 per cent of the UAE’s 11 million population being foreign nationals, many of them from cricket-loving countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Baseball United sees an opportunity to engage a ready-made audience familiar with bat-and-ball sports.