Islamic Solidarity Games promising sustainable festival of sport in Riyadh in 2025

For four decades, the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA) – which was founded, and is headquartered, in Riyadh – has been using sport as a tool to foster collaboration between countries from across the world. Under the umbrella of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), ISSA is the sporting arm of a vast association of nations.

Late in 2025, Saudi Arabia’s capital city will welcome athletes from more than 50 countries as it hosts the fifth edition of ISSA’s flagship event: the Islamic Solidarity Games. The quadrennial sporting festival is celebrating its 20th birthday, having launched in Mecca in 2005, while the 2025 Games also represents the 40th anniversary of the creation of ISSA.

“Every time we host the Games, we are hoping it will be better than the previous edition,” ISSA secretary general Nasser Majali told Al Arabiya English in an exclusive interview.

He said the Saudi Arabia is “a great place” to host the Games because of its experience in hosting such sporting events over the past years.

“They have the resources, the capability and capacity to host a great event,” he said.

“This world of major sports events is a beautiful one – the Games bring joy and they bring excellence in competition to a country. But importantly, we need to always think about sustainability too. We are trying to create a blueprint that will make it more affordable for future hosts.”

With over 50 member states in ISSA, including many developing countries, this approach to creating a sustainable sporting event is not just an empty promise according to Majali – but something that is fundamental to the organization in order to democratize access to sport.

“We have worked hard to keep our Games at a cost-effective level, but one that can still provide the quality of competition, as well as safety and comfort for athletes and fans,” Majali explained.

“The number of countries putting themselves forward to host these sort of multi-sport Games has been shrinking because it is often hard to see the return on investment.”

“It’s our role to help demonstrate the direct positive effect of the Games and their legacy on the host city and nation. ISSA is a human-centric organization, and the Islamic Solidarity Games is a key platform from which we can help develop sustainable sports policies across our member countries,” Majali told Al Arabiya English. “Most countries that are part of ISSA have a Muslim-majority population but it is not a prerequisite of membership and the organization is all-inclusive to the entire populations of our members.”

The last Islamic Solidarity Games was hosted in Konya, Turkey in 2022 – pushed back a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic – and next year Riyadh will join other previous host cities Palembang (Indonesia) and Baku (Azerbaijan).

The games have regularly served as a proving ground for the Olympics – giving some young athletes their first taste of a major multi-sport event and offering more experienced competitors another platform on which to test themselves.

“It comes at a great time in the year right after the Olympic Games,” Majali explained. “There are still three years to go to the Olympic Games, and the qualification cycle practically starts a year after the Islamic Solidarity Games.”

“It is well positioned as a very strong indicator for young athletes testing out their Olympic capabilities, but also for accomplished athletes to see if they’re ready to go through that qualification cycle again.”

Saudi Arabia is not only the host of the 2025 games, it has played an important role in ISSA’s history. The president is always drawn from the Kingdom, with Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal currently at the helm; Majali – a former Jordan Olympic Committee chief – is working closely with him to guide the direction of ISSA.
“Prince Abdulaziz has been around the movement for a long time – as an athlete, a Minister of Sport, and an Olympic Committee president,” Majali said. “He is extremely supportive and empowers the people around him to carry out ISSA’s mission. He is a strong believer in good governance and has a very common-sense approach to sports organization.”

Majali recognizes that Saudi Arabia, and ISSA’s other more established sporting nations have a responsibility to aid the development of countries that don’t have existing elite infrastructure or a rich history of competition.

“Of course, these ‘more developed’ nations want to assist through competency and capacity building for hosting events or for athlete development. This has been the role of ISSA since its inception – to bring the kind of ‘big brother, younger brother’ model.

“We want to assist everybody that is less capable right now, so that they become more capable in the future. Everybody has to start somewhere,” Majali said.

“Saudi Arabia obviously has a special role in this regard, as the country where the organization was founded - and the Kingdom does really support ISSA’s vision and our programs.”

The 2025 Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh will be a warm-up of sorts for the Asian Games in 2034, a massive year for the Kingdom in which it is also set to host the men’s FIFA World Cup for the first time.