Camel Jumping is the traditional sport of Yemen. Literally, one must jump over camels — and it’s not just one camel we’re discussing here, it’s a row of camels. The one who leaps over the most camels is the winner. Local celebrations along the Tihama coastal plain aren’t complete without it, and it is the men of the Zaraniq (al-Zaraneeq) tribe who have kept the sport alive as modernization has pushed it towards the margins.

Football is by far the most popular sport in the country today. It is run by the Yemen Football Association, which administers the Yemen national football team as well as the Yemeni League. Yemen hosted the 2010 Gulf Cup of Nations in Aden and Abyan, but the years since have been dominated by civil war — the domestic league was suspended for more than a decade and the national team has been unable to play competitive home matches inside the country, using neutral venues in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain instead.

That picture began to change in 2026. A full national league returned for the first time since 2014, with matches played in Sanaa, Marib, Seiyun, Ibb, Mukalla and Hodeidah, drawing large crowds from areas held by opposing sides of the conflict. Weeks later, the national team qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, only the second time in its history that Yemen has reached a major finals.

Camel Jumping in YemenCamel Jumping in Yemen. Still image from the Camel Jumping Video

Away from football, Yemen’s mountainous interior supports trekking, hiking and mountain climbing — the Sarawat Mountains and Jabal an-Nabi Shu’ayb, the highest peak on the Arabian Peninsula, are the best-known destinations. The Red Sea and Arabian Sea coastlines and the island of Socotra offer surfing, bodyboarding, sailing and diving. Yemen has competed at the Summer Olympic Games since 1992 but has yet to win a medal, with its athletes generally entering through universality places.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Yemen. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Yemen

  • football (soccer), boxing, athletics, karate and other martial arts, mountain climbing, surfing and diving

Traditional or Regional Sports

  • Camel Jumping — the objective of the sport is to cleanly jump a group of camels that are stacked together side by side. It is practised mainly by the Zaraniq tribe of the Tihama plain near Bajil and Zabid, at weddings and festival days, with competitors taking a short sprint before launching themselves over the animals.

Yemen Sporting Success

  • Yemen qualified for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup on 5 June 2026, beating Lebanon 2–0 with both goals scored by Nasser Al-Gahwashi, and topped their qualifying group with 14 points. It is only the second time Yemen has reached the finals of the tournament.
  • Yemen made their AFC Asian Cup debut at the 2019 tournament in the UAE, having come through qualifying for the first time in the country's history.
  • Yemen recorded their first ever win at the Arabian Gulf Cup on 28 December 2024, beating Bahrain 2–1 at the 26th edition of the tournament.
  • Yemen hosted the 2010 Gulf Cup of Nations, the first major international football tournament staged in the country.
  • A national football league returned in 2026 for the first time since 2014, with 14 clubs playing home and away across seven venues — widely seen as one of the most significant signs of normal life resuming in Yemen.

Great athletes from Yemen

  • Naseem Hamed (boxing) — born in Sheffield, England to Yemeni parents from Zabid, "Prince" Naseem held the WBO, IBF and WBC featherweight titles and was the lineal champion from 1998 to 2001, finishing 36–1 with 31 knockouts. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.
  • Ali Al-Nono (football) — Yemen's all-time leading scorer with 30 goals in 65 internationals, a former national team captain and the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Yemeni League.
  • Alaa Al-Sasi (football) — Yemen's most capped player with 84 appearances.
  • Abdulwasea Al-Matari (football) — captain of the side that qualified for the 2027 Asian Cup.
  • Nasser Al-Gahwashi (football) — scored both goals in the win over Lebanon that took Yemen to the 2027 Asian Cup.
  • Ali Khousrof (judo) — Yemen's flagbearer at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
  • Fatima Sulaiman Dahman (athletics) — sprinter who was one of the first Yemeni women to compete at the Olympic Games, at London 2012.

Yemen Sports trivia

  • South Yemen made its debut at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988. Sending only eight athletes, the country won no medals. This was the only time the country went to the Olympics until unification in 1990.
  • Yemen has not played a competitive home international in football inside the country since 2015, using neutral venues in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain instead.
  • Yemen's highest FIFA world ranking was 90th, reached in 1993 shortly after unification; the side was ranked around 149th in early 2026.
  • Naseem Hamed's career was dramatised in the 2025 feature film Giant, with Amir El-Masry playing the boxer and Pierce Brosnan as his trainer Brendan Ingle.
  • The island of Socotra, some 350km off the Yemeni mainland, is regarded as one of the least-visited surfing destinations in the world.
  • Yemen sent just four athletes to the Paris 2024 Olympics — in athletics, judo, shooting and swimming — all through universality places rather than direct qualification.

Yemen at major events

Past sporting events hosted in Yemen

  • 2010 — Gulf Cup of Nations in Aden and Abyan (football)
  • 2026 — the return of the Yemeni League, played across Sanaa, Marib, Seiyun, Ibb, Mukalla and Hodeidah

Upcoming sporting events in Yemen

  • Continuation of the revived Yemeni League and the Republic Cup, subject to security conditions.

Annual sporting events held in Yemen

  • Yemeni League — the national football championship, relaunched in 2026 with 14 clubs.
  • Republic Cup — the national football knockout cup competition.
  • Camel jumping contests — held informally at weddings and village festivals in the Tihama region rather than on a fixed calendar.
  • The Yemeni National Football Cup

Sporting Facilities in Yemen

  • Althawra Sports City Stadium, Sana'a — a multi-purpose stadium and the official home ground of the national football team.
  • 22 May Stadium, Aden — a multi-purpose stadium, and a venue for the 2010 Gulf Cup.
  • Marib Stadium, Marib — one of the venues for the revived national league.
  • Seiyun Stadium, Seiyun, and Baradem Stadium, Mukalla — league venues in the Hadhramaut region.
  • Ittihad Ibb Stadium, Ibb, and Al Olofi Stadium, Hodeidah — further league venues.
  • Note that many Yemeni sports facilities have been damaged during the civil war and remain in poor condition or unusable.