Saudi-based Al Haboob, the world’s first skilled UAE and GCC camel racing staff, has unveiled a landmark partnership with world soccer icon Paul Pogba, marking a historic second for the game.
The World Cup winner joins the staff as each ambassador and shareholder — the primary skilled footballer in historical past to carry possession in a camel racing staff — bringing unprecedented worldwide visibility to a centuries-old custom.
The transfer types a part of Al Haboob’s long-term imaginative and prescient to ascertain the world’s first professionally ruled Camel Racing League.
World Cup winner Pogba, at present with AS Monaco, stated: “I’m extremely excited to be becoming a member of forces with Al Haboob. From the second I spoke with Omar and Safwan, I felt their ardour, imaginative and prescient, and real love for this sport.
“Their ambition to raise camel racing onto a world stage is one thing I actually join with. All through my profession, I’ve been blessed with many alternatives and proposals, however this one felt completely different. It spoke to me on a deeper degree: to tradition, to legacy, to storytelling.”
Paul Pogba invests in camel-racing staff
He added that the partnership resonated along with his want to assist initiatives that create influence past sport: “I need to be a part of a mission that goes past sport, one which brings folks collectively and shines a lightweight on traditions that should be celebrated.
“Becoming a member of Al Haboob felt like being invited into a brand new household, and saying sure was a simple choice. I’ve at all times been somebody who needs to attempt new issues and do issues in a different way…Al Haboob represents precisely that: one thing recent, one thing significant, and one thing thrilling whereas staying true to who I’m.”
Based in Saudi Arabia by entrepreneurs Omar Almaeena and Safwan Modir, Al Haboob blends cultural heritage with elite efficiency, superior veterinary and coaching practices, and cinematic storytelling.
The duo co-created and starred within the Netflix sequence Camel Quest, which introduced world consideration to camel racing and chronicled their ambition to compete in main regional festivals.
Omar Almaeena stated: “Paul’s involvement is transformational. His affect, management, and keenness for cultural storytelling mirror precisely what Al Haboob stands for. This partnership is about greater than racing; it’s about sharing a heritage that deserves world recognition.”
Safwan Modir added that Pogba’s attain would speed up the game’s globalisation: “With Paul becoming a member of us, we’re taking this motion to a world stage and shaping the way forward for camel racing. At Al Haboob, we don’t merely symbolize a racing staff, we symbolize the ambition of a nation, the idea of a folks, and a real willpower for Saudis to be primary throughout each discipline of life, from sport and enterprise to tradition and innovation.”
Rising sport
Al Haboob’s camels are educated to world-class requirements below the supervision of Dr. Margreet Voermans, a dual-certified specialist in Equine Surgical procedure and Sports activities Drugs and Rehabilitation.
Coaching is led by Abo Khattab — Hamed Salem Al-Jadaili Al-Wahaibi — one of many Gulf’s most revered camel racing coaches. The staff makes use of superior robotic jockeys outfitted with GPS monitoring, heart-rate monitoring and two-way communication methods to boost security and optimise efficiency.
The partnership with Pogba accelerates Al Haboob’s ambition to globalise one of many Kingdom’s oldest sports activities, laying the groundwork for the world’s first Camel Racing League and demonstrating how custom, innovation and worldwide star energy can converge to redefine a cultural establishment.
