The Islamic Solidarity Games Wants Nations To Embrace ‘Human Development Through Sports’

It took a quarter century for the Islamic Solidarity Games to go from concept to reality, but in the 20 years since its inaugural edition was held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2005, evolution of the quadrennial multisport event has been rapid. As it prepares to return to Saudi Arabia for its sixth edition November 7-25 in Riyadh, organizers are hoping that the event will help catalyze sport as a priority in the Islamic world.

“The Games themselves are a platform to market the sector,” remarked Nasser Majali, Secretary General of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the body responsible for putting on the Games, in a recent interview with Forbes. “By elevating the Islamic Solidarity Games, you spur people to get excited about it, perhaps spur governments to invest in sports at the grassroots level, to build themselves up towards sending athletes to the Games and having success. And that will make life better for people. What’s on the side of the Games will be even bigger than what’s inside of the Games.”

Like all big multisport events, the Islamic Solidarity Games has a marketing strategy and has developed a platform that expands beyond the fields of play, a set of values that the International Olympic Committee likes to refer to as “Olympism”: peace, friendship, solidarity, good health, and prosperity for all through sport. To put it another way, practicing sports is good for you and good for society, and the Islamic Solidarity Games’s goal is getting leaders to recognize that — and maybe even implement initiatives that promote it.

Majali, who graduated from the University of Michigan and worked in IT before becoming President of the Jordanian Olympic Committee and a sport policy advisor to the country’s royal family, has been a sports enthusiast “my whole life,” he said. “I always respected and felt the camaraderie that comes with sports, the feeling that comes from being part of a team. Just being part of the ecosystem gave me a very interesting satisfaction, and after going through a couple of experiences of Games, I started feeling that multiplied by 10. And I think that’s what pulled me in.”

In conversation, Majali drifts easily from Michigan football (he attended the Michigan vs. Washington championship game last year) to his organization’s lofty goals: getting participation in sports recognized as beneficial for the public in the 57 countries that belong to the United Nations-like Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which stretches from Guyana and Suriname across North Africa and the Middle East to Malaysia and Indonesia. OIC nations account for more than two billion people, nearly a quarter of the Earth’s population, but have earned just seven percent of Olympic medals. One reason for the disparity, Majali thinks, is the lack of sports organization at the grassroots level.

“The sports movement and Olympic movement’s ecosystem usually builds that kind of recognition through Games, through championships, through international federations,” he said. “Now what’s under all that, which to us is the bigger priority, an even bigger priority than the Games themselves, is human development and human development through sports.”

Backing the argument for sport up with data

To prove its point, the ISSA has turned to data, bringing in different entities to chart, illustrate, and amplify how sports investment pays dividends in health and cultural development — “human development data,” Majali calls it. The information is used to sell governments on the idea that investing in sport is worth it, which leads to advocacy for developing the sports sector and eventually trickles down to benefit everyday families.

Among the most enthusiastic early adopters of the approach has been Saudi Arabia, where a 2015 public survey revealed that only 13 percent of the population was exercising on a regular basis. The government set a goal to increase it to 40 percent and undertook a bevy of projects with the national Olympic committee, sports world federations, and sports clubs under the auspices of the Ministry of Sport. At the same time, physical education was introduced as part of the curriculum in women’s schools. And it’s worked — statistics culled this year show that 58 percent of the population is now considered active.

Hosting competitions was always part of the plan, which is partly why Saudi Arabia, whose Ministry of Sport currently provides the bulk of funding for the Islamic Solidarity Games, is suddenly hosting a lot of events, including the Olympics Esports Games planned for 2027. Another hopeful sign is “heavy interest” from potential future Solidarity Games hosts, and the ISSA may be able to announce where the 2029 Games are going before the curtain falls on the 2025 edition. In terms of profitability, however, “we still have a lot to work on,” Majali conceded.

Camel racing, wushu, and Esports spice up the Games

Football is king in many OIC countries, and the beautiful game is felt and understood there in a way many Olympic sports are not. The triumphs of OIC teams have a big effect (case in point: when Saudi Arabia upset Argentina 2-1 at the last World Cup, the jubilant government declared a public holiday) and inside the kingdom millions of boys dream of donning the green national team jersey and playing in a major tournament. Yet while everybody loves watching WWE too, they don’t dream of becoming wrestlers. To make sense of this, some of the data being harvested concerns which sports are likely to make a splash among viewers, and it’s one reason why camel racing will make its debut in Riyadh.

Para track and field, para swimming, para powerlifting and Esports are also on the program, with an easy point of entry for followers and fans. Broadcast rights for the Games are held by the ISSA, which has committed to making its broadcasts free to “suitors” in OIC nations. In one more example of investment strategy, the ISSA believes hitting certain metrics for diffusion of its product will create value for broadcasting future Games, which will in turn generate interest, excitement, and young athletes who will go on to compete at future Games.

It all plays into the larger vision. “Ultimately, I’d like our event to be the final destination, rather than it being part of all the different Games that are out there. I’d like it to be a thing in itself,” Majali said. “Which for many it is, but it’s even better when it’s for everyone.”