Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The efforts the Dubai Sports Council’s (DSC) health and safety protocols it had set up for various sports has resulted in the council obtaining the approval of the Executive Council of Dubai and the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai for the return of spectators to sport events at a maximum of 30 per cent of capacity.

Work is underway to prepare for the return of spectators in the upcoming sports tournaments organised by DSC or overseen by the organisation.

The Council is in contact with organisers and sports federations and discussing the possibility of the return of fans to matches of all the sports that are held in the stadiums.

The UAE in general and Dubai in particular has become the preferred destination for international clubs and teams to set up their training camps and compete in international tournaments here.

Following the great success in hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) the franchisee-based professional twenty-20 league – which saw 8 top teams comprising world cricket’s biggest stars play 56 matches on the country’s soil from Sept.18 to Nov.10, the UAE is playing host to seven Asian football teams who are camping here as they prepare for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup 2023, as well as an Israeli-American cycling expedition.

In the coming days, many English, German and Chinese football teams will be here for their winter training camp.

Dubai is preparing to host more athletes and teams during the coming period as part of their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, which will be held in the summer of next year, after it was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.