Sport in Jordan
The sport was introduced during the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan by the British Armed Forces, who were present with the Arab army at the time.
In terms of its recent history, the national football team reached 37th place in September 2004 according to the FIFA World Rankings, and finished as runners-up at the AFC Asian Cup in 2023.
[7] The 2000s and 2010s also saw historical leaps to their basketball program, with players such as Zaid Abbas, Sam Daghles, Islam Abbas, Zaid Al-Khas and Mahmoud Abdeen became sought after internationally, after Jordan's qualification to the 2010 FIBA World Championship , the first time in national team history.
[7] The late 2010s and 2020s would see players like former EuroLeague champion Ahmad Al-Dwairi, as well as the likes of Amin Abu Hawwas and Freddy Ibrahim lead Jordan as domestic players, with their subsequent qualifications to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
[17][18] The 2000s saw clubs like Zain (Fastlink) and ASU compete for championships, each putting their marks in the Jordanian basketball scene.
[19][20] More recently, Al-Wehdat earned recognition for their loyal fan base, in addition to two league titles, helping basketball grow further during that period.
[23][24] The martial art was introduced in 1973,[25] after the Jordan Royal Guard requested two teams of taekwondo trainers from Taiwan to train their members in it as a sport of self-defense.
He also received a hero's welcome, including the Jordanian Royal Family congratulating him,[28] as well as being awarded 100,000 JD by the Jordan Olympic Committee, upon his return to Amman.
[32] The country has played an important role in being one of the main hubs of MMA to the Middle East, prior to Abu Dhabi's deal with the UFC.
[33] Sami Al Jamal and his business partner Tarek Kalimat are credited towards finding the first martial arts academy in Jordan: Source MMA.
[38] Other notable MMA fighters include Izzedine Al-Derbani,[39] Jalal Al Daaja,[40] Nawras Abzakh,[41] Abdalrahman Alhyasat[42] and Akhmed Fararzha.
Al-Baqa'a refugee camp is home to notable Jordanian boxers, including Mohammad Abu Jajeh, as well as Zeyad and Hussein Ishaish.
[48] Samy Al Jamal, who spent 30 years in Brazil to become a black belt,[49] is credited towards the growth of BJJ in Jordan.
[34] Shadia Bseiso has practiced the sport and competed in the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, winning silver in the white belt 72kg category back in 2014.
[51][52][53] Yara Kakish is a notable Jordanian ju-jitsu practitioner, who won Jordan's first-ever medal by a woman during the 2018 Asian Games.
[60] Princess Sumaya bint Hassan chaired the Federation's Board of Directors, during which she helped grow women's handball in Jordan.
As a result, the sport of tennis began to spread widely and organized among youth and juniors on the six federation courts, which King Hussein bin Talal ordered to be established at his own expense, and with the continuous sponsorship of Queen Noor Al Hussein who used to practice this game, and on the courts of Al Hussein Youth City under the sponsorship of the late Issam Arida and his continuous support for this game, and later under the sponsorship of Fadi Zureikat.
[68] In addition to the expansion of the game, professional Jordanian, Arab and foreign coaches were appointed in most of these clubs, and they were credited with training young men and women.
