Abu Dhabi made a big splash in the 2025 rankings. Photo Credit: F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Seven cities across APAC and Middle East made the top 30 in an annual ranking of cities with most strongly associated with sport.
The 2025 Ranking of Sports City is published by communications agency Burson – based on perception and quantitative analysis that factor in feedback from international sports leaders, sports media representatives, and industry experts, as well as social media and media coverage analytics.
Paris took top spot for the third consecutive year. Los Angeles maintained its runner-up position, while New York City secured third place. London remained in fourth spot, and Madrid placed fifth.
Tokyo was ranked highest in Asia, ranking 13th, maintaining its position compared to last year’s ranking. Beijing meanwhile also made the top 15, ranking 14th, a slight drop from its 11th position in the 2024 rankings.
Brisbane was ranked 20th, jumping five places compared to last year. Dubai placed 21st, as it was in 2024, while Abu Dhabi was identified as a ‘major riser’, having climbed to 23rd, an increase of 23 places. Doha came in 25th (compared to 34th in the previous year) while Sydney dropped ten places to rank 28th.
“Abu Dhabi’s remarkable jump from 46th to 23rd is anchored by consistent hosting of major international events like the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and prominent golf and tennis tournaments,” Burson stated in its report, while highlighting the city’s diversification of sports hosting strategy.
The 2025 ranking also highlighted key trends reshaping the global sports landscape. These include the ‘Olympic lifestyle effect’, which examines how previous host cities of the Games can achieve recovery through legacy activation, how cities that invest in women’s sports are seeing their efforts pay off, and how diversification beats one-off events for sports tourism.