The Emirates do not have to travel to find December sport; they host it. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix runs from 3 to 6 December at Yas Marina, and the date is now settled after the reserve option at Imola was withdrawn. It is the last round of the season, which means the weekend carries whatever the championship has left to decide, and the race is run partly in daylight and partly under lights — the reason it has become the most-watched Formula One event in the region rather than simply the last one.

What A Season Finale Actually Delivers

A final round is unpredictable as a spectacle in a specific way: teams that have nothing left to play for run differently from teams that do, and the result is usually either a procession or a mess. Yas Marina has historically produced more of the former than the latter, with the long back straights offering the main passing opportunity. The circuit sits on an island with its own hotels, so the weekend functions as an event rather than a race day.

Where To Watch

Formula One in the Emirates is on beIN Sports across the region, and Abu Dhabi is one of the few rounds where local free-to-air coverage also appears. The cricket is simpler: the ILT20 is broadcast widely across the Gulf and South Asia, which matters because the audience for it in the UAE is substantially an expatriate one. Which operators carry in-play streaming, and whether they are available where you are, is in the table at the foot of this page.

Cricket Closes The Month

The ILT20 final is in Dubai on 20 December after a six-week run-in. That matches what people here actually search for: the busiest cricket queries in the Emirates are about South Asian national sides rather than about local teams, and the tournament’s scheduling is built around that. Al Ain, meanwhile, topped the AFC Champions League Elite western standings before a December trip to Al-Hilal — the Emirati club season’s most demanding away fixture.

Two Names In The News This Week

Usman Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili. On 11 November Nurmagomedov approached Dvalishvili from behind in an Abu Dhabi hotel lobby, where the former UFC bantamweight champion was giving an interview, and struck him in the face. A fight followed involving members of both camps; Dvalishvili and the Georgian wrestler Saba Lazishvili were outnumbered, and Dvalishvili later posted video showing a bloodied face and a swollen left eye. Abu Dhabi Police said eight people involved in the fight were arrested along with two who filmed it, and that all ten were referred to the Public Prosecution. Nurmagomedov’s manager separately denied reports that the fighter has signed with the UFC.

Saqib Khan. The Pakistan debutant took seven wickets in an innings in Rawalpindi on 12 November, removing the centurion Dhananjaya de Silva in the first over of the day and then Kusal Mendis for 119, as Sri Lanka went from 404-4 overnight to 446 all out. He is the fourth Pakistani to take seven on debut, and his name was the most searched sporting term in the Emirates this week.

What To Expect

The Emirati December is the opposite of most markets in this region: it is busier than last year, not quieter, because the country stages its own events rather than qualifying for other people’s. Two fixed dates anchor it — 6 December at Yas Marina and 20 December in Dubai — and the football fits around them.