Can We Expect To See More Middle East Stars In American Sports?

The most popular American sports haven’t traditionally featured many players of Middle Eastern heritage. However, there are signs of this changing in the future, as more potential stars from this part of the world make their mark.

Up and Coming NBA Stars   

In 2017, four North African Arab players who were playing college basketball in the US were tipped as potential NBA drafts. Two of them were the Sudanese players Peter Jok and Thik. The other two were born in Egypt.

Anas Osama Mahmoud was one of those promising starlets. He was born in Egypt but ended up playing his college basketball with the University of Louisville. He missed out getting a team in the 2018 draft but then had a spell with the Memphis Grizzles before playing professional basketball with Zamalek in Egypt. 

The other player mentioned in this report was Karim Sameh Azab, also of Egypt, who tragically died of leukaemia before he could get the chance to take his skills from the University of Memphis to the NBA.   

While none of these promising players managed to become successful in the NBA, it is encouraging to see that there are opportunities for highly rated young players like them.

Right now, probably the biggest name NBA player from the Middle East is Egypt’s Abdel Nader. He moved to the US at the age of 8 and has played for both the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma Thunder.  

In the past, Alaa Abdelnady was another Egyptian who moved to America at an early age and went to have a good career playing professional basketball.  It is worth noting that the opening-night rosters for the 2019-20 NBA season contained over 100 foreign players from 38 different countries.

A Lack of Baseball Players

There is a notable lack of players from the Middle East in the MLB. One player who should be mentioned in this respect is Alex Wilson.

Wilson was born in Saudi Arabia, as his father was working there at the time. The family moved back to the US when he was 2 years old, and he went on to play college football before joining the Boston Red Sox. At the time of writing, Wilson is set to play for the Detroit Tigers.

There are a few former players who could lay claim to being the most famous MLB figure from the Middle East. These include Joseph Lahoud, whose family moved from Lebanon. Another is Sam Khalifa, who spent part of his early life in different parts of the Middle East.

( If you want to know more about Major League Baseball click here: https://extra.betamerica.com/mlb/ )

Football Has a Palestinian Star

The NFL is another American league were Middle East players have had limited impact. Just now, the biggest success story is arguably that of Oday Aboushi. He is from an America-Palestinian background and is the first Palestinian to reach the NFL.

Aboushi played his college football for the University of Virginia before joining the New York Jets in the 2013 draft. He has gone on to play as offensive guard for a few other NFL teams.     

Doug Flutie was one of the most famous NFL players with Middle East heritage, as his great-grandparents moved across from Lebanon. He went on to be best known for throwing what was known as the miracle touchdown pass for Boston College in 1984.

What Does the Future Hold?

There is growing interest in American sports in the Middle East, largely due to the easy access to TV coverage. For the moment, the biggest chance of a future star coming through seems to be in the NBA, where Egyptian players have been threatening to make a major breakthrough in recent years.

It certainly seems like just a matter of time before an Arab player becomes a huge star in the US and perhaps opens up the Middle East market even more.