Dakar leaves Saudi Arabia and can move to Portugal and Morocco

O announcement of the change of location of the event, which has been contested in Saudi Arabia since 2020, should take place early next week.

This decision arises because of the “recent developments in the region” following the conflicts between Yemen’s Huthis and Saudi Arabia.

“The Dakar 2027 will take place. The 2027 edition will take place in a different territory and will be organised by ASO. The site will be announced separately in the next few days. ASO is in direct contact with competitors, teams and partners to support them in this transition,” he said.

The teams have already been informed of the amendment, Lusa confirmed with one of them, and the details of the course and the competition programme, which may have the departure and prologue in the Algarve, and the stages in Morocco, although Spain has been pointed out as hypothesis.

In a note published on the website of the proof, Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), a company responsible for organising, among other events, the Dakar rally of all-terrain and Volta-France on a bicycle, confirmed that the 2027 edition headed for other stops, returning to Saudi Arabia in 2028 to mark the 50th edition.

“Saudi Arabia will host the Dakar in 2028, in a historic edition that will mark the 50th realization of the rally. The two organizations are already working together to make this milestone an exceptional moment for the Dakar and the Kingdom, with the common commitment to once again hold an emblematic and world-sized event, according to the highest quality standards”, it is said.

To come true, the departure of the Algarve will represent the return of the Dakar to Portugal, 19 years after the cancellation of the 2008 edition, which should link Lisbon to the capital of Senegal.

The Portuguese capital received the departure from the 2006 and 2007 editions, but the third consecutive departure from Lisbon was cancelled on January 4, 2008, on the eve of the start of the competition due to security threats in Mauritania.

This cancellation preceded the first major geographical change of the race, which moved to South America in 2009, with a route through Argentina and Chile.

Dakar remained on the South American continent for 11 editions, also passing through Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, before settling in Saudi Arabia in 2020.

The planned transfer to Portugal and Morocco will thus constitute the third major change in the host region in the history of competition and will mark the return to the European and African space, where he was born.

Created by Frenchman Thierry Sabine, the Dakar had its first edition in 1979, linking Paris to the Senegalese capital. Before the passage to South America, he met different routes, including Paris–City of Cape in 1992, Granada–Dakar in 1995, and Dakar–Cairo in 2000.