Inside Paul Pogba’s Saudi camel racing membership Al Haboob as Man Utd flop eyes Royal Ascot

Paul Pogba holds a stake in Al Haboob camel racing club in Saudi Arabia, with the Manchester United mega flop eyeing a $5m star camel for his stable

Paul Pogba has found a new sport outside of football after the Manchester United flop invested in the Al Haboob camel racing club in Saudi Arabia.

Camel racing is purely a sporting endeavour dominated by the Royal families and aristocrats of the Gulf Cooperation Council region – including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Events span weeks, featuring races with over 85 entries and prize money running into tens of millions of Riyals – roughly £4m, with the day likened to Ascot’s Champions Day.

The sport can be traced back over 1000 years when the feuding tribes of the Arabian Peninsula didn’t settle disputes through jousting competitions or the 7th century equivalent of pistols at dawn. Instead, they raced camels, with the victors earning their owners the prized beachhead, crucial for trade and survival.

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Last year saw the introduction of a new competitor, the Al Haboob team, which aims to demonstrate that the sport can also be a viable business.

It is the brainchild of two Saudi men, Omar Almaeena and Safwan Modir, and an unexpected investor: United’s record signing, £89m flop Pogba.

The France midfielder, 33, joined Monaco last year and holds a minority stake in Al Haboob – described as a “decent” slice by his fellow camel-owning peers – and has expressed his desire to maintain a stable featuring a $5m star.

“Paul’s involvement centres on the intersection between sport and global icons,” Almaeena tells City AM. “He’s not just there as an ambassador and for marketing, he is invested in the team as a shareholder and understands the value of what this means. He’s into how we grow this and use his platform.”

The sport itself has transformed from its tribal origins. It can cost as little as £40,000 to purchase a competitive camel, with money to be earned by catching the eye of royal stables at events across Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Almaeena and Modir reveal that frequently aristocrats – recently the Qataris – have been known to snap up the top 10 finishers in the major races, partly to bolster their stables but also to undermine competitors. For current owners it represents a lucrative double windfall, often approaching £1m, if they manage to secure the £500,000 for claiming the flagship race and a similar sum for selling their camel to the highest bidder.

Modir adds: “We are going to be inspiring more people to go into this industry with the same business model we are doing.”

Their approach centres on franchise expansion – the duo star in a popular Gulf Netflix series, Camel Quest – and they’re looking to take on the established racers with thousands of years of humped bloodlines behind them. Regarding Pogba’s attraction, Modir noted: “You now have an entire football fan base that has been exposed to camel racing.”

The Al Haboob duo claim that major players like oil behemoth Shell and prominent Gulf banks are now backing races, partly due to Pogba elevating camel racing’s standing.

The Gulf’s move to replace child jockeys – the US Department of State reported in 2005 that youngsters as little as two were trafficked from Asia and exploited for the sport – with robotic alternatives in the early 2000s has transformed the sport’s image, while a tendency to trail the camels in vehicles rather than observe from corporate boxes is cited as crucial to maintaining the sport’s authenticity.

Almaeena and Modir – accompanied by Pogba – harbour ambitious plans that involve casting their gaze towards the west. When questioned about staging a camel race at Royal Ascot, Almaeena responds “definitely” but concedes that European perceptions of camels generally, plus the illnesses they are known to transmit, present a significant hurdle. The EU opposes importing the animals.

“There is a possibility that within the next 14 months we will have a race somewhere in Europe,” Almaeena declares. Such a race might coincide with a second high-profile sporting investor backing Al Haboob and the franchise model.

“Hopefully we attract Shaquille O’Neal to invest,” Modir states purposefully. “That’s a wish that we have: Shaq on the track.”

Relatively specialist sports are enjoying their time in the spotlight; SailGP, fencing, padel and equestrian, to mention just a few. Camel racing continues to be amongst the most beloved pursuits in the Gulf, despite the region’s efforts to westernise its appeal beyond its borders.

Perhaps it’s for this very reason that the sport remains cherished by the region’s royals – much like the Ascot Gold Cup was to the late Queen. Its natural demonstration of local wealth and influence represents its greatest strength; expanding beyond the Middle East into Europe presents an entirely different challenge.

And that’s precisely where securing Pogba to spearhead the campaign could prove to be the sport’s most significant coup.