ISD Dubai Sports City: Beyond a World-Class Facility

Dubai: Playing a key role in Dubai’s grassroots sports scene, ISD Dubai Sports City is more than just a world-class facility, it’s the ideal breeding ground for the city’s future sporting talent.

Located in Dubai Sports City, the cutting-edge multi-sport complex is built to serve athletes of all levels, from first-timers to professionals.

As part of Gulf News’ new ‘Dubai’s Local Game’ series, ISD Sports City CEO Daniels Petrovs outlines the vision behind the ever-evolving sports destination.

“The vision behind ISD is to create not just a sports venue, but to create a full ecosystem that is combining different communities, with different backgrounds together,” explained Petrovs.

“What our investor, Sergei Lomakin, understood from the very beginning is that sport can be a platform for real, lasting change and for it to thrive it must be part of a wider community.

“We’re investing in the future of Dubai sports, by investing in the facilities and in youth development, this is something that we pride ourselves on at ISD.”

Youth football development in Dubai is rapidly gaining momentum, with a growing number of academies emerging across the city and clubs within the UAE Pro League increasingly investing in structured training pathways.

ISD has become a hub for youth football development, providing world-class infrastructure for thousands of young players to hone their skills.

Petrovs highlights youth tournaments such as the Dubai Open Football Academies Tournament (DOFA) as an example of how ISD is playing its part to drive grassroots football growth.

“We see that youth football development has grown a lot in the city, and we wanted to be a part of this,” he said.

“We have more than 1,200 young players both boys and girls in our academy, along with this we also host DOFA, which is the leading youth football competition in the country with more than 250 teams competing at our facility.”

Just last year, ISD took a major step in its vision to strengthen Dubai’s grassroots football landscape by announcing its partnership with the Real Madrid Foundation.

This collaboration brings elite-level coaching methodologies and training standards directly to young players in the region, helping raise technical ability, tactical understanding, and overall professionalism from an early age.

The partnership allows ISD the opportunity to transform the youth football landscape in the region combining cutting-edge infrastructure, global expertise, and one of the most powerful names in football.

“The partnership with Real Madrid Foundation was signed last year, bringing one of football’s leading methodologists to the young players in our academy, Petrovs explained.

“We are very happy to partner with such a huge club and a great foundation, it’s something that developed our vision here at ISD.”

Home to UAE Division 1 side United FC, managed by Italian legend and World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo, ISD Dubai Sports City provides young players with a clear and inspiring pathway to the elite game.

Training on the same grounds as a professional club exposes them to high-performance standards and a direct link to senior football, giving them a genuine opportunity to progress through structured development routes within the game.

“Having United FC here, we feel, gives young players something to aspire towards,” Petrovs continued.

“We aimed to build a clear bridge between grassroots and professional football, making the pathway visible and accessible to every young player who comes through our doors.”

Before taking over as CEO of ISD Dubai Sports City in the summer of 2023, Petrovs recognised the potential to transform the then-outdated facility into a thriving hub of sporting activity and excellence.

Bringing extensive experience in developing modern sports facilities, he created a vision that goes beyond upgrading all pitches to hybrid surfaces to embedding sustainability and high-performance standards throughout every aspect of ISD’s infrastructure.

Petrovs went on to discuss how having features like the FIFA certified turf enhance the overall ecosystem of ISD.

“Facilities is something that we believe everyone has to start with in order to build a solid foundation for future development.

“We have the one and only full-size indoor pitch in Dubai, we have also invested in the latest technology of a world class infrastructure including hybrid technologies, in addition to this we have made our pitches fully recyclable.

“Away from the sports facilities we have also invested in dining and social spaces, making sure we cover all basis in our aim to leave every single person that enters ISD happy with what’s around them.”

Despite a clear passion for football, ISD has also invested heavily across a range of other sports, recognising the importance of inclusivity and its role in serving all communities.

“Alongside our football facilities we have six indoor and three outdoor padel courts, this allows us to host incredible padel tournaments including one for people of determination, which serves as part of our inclusive Padel Tour with the next edition set to be taking place in November.

“We recently launched a thriving table tennis academy, alongside four tennis courts and an athletics track, further strengthening our multi-sport offering.”