CAN ULTIMATE FRISBEE HEAL THE MIDDLE EAST?

FOR TEENAGERS IN IRAQI KURDISTAN AND ELSEWHERE, IT'S MORE THAN JUST A GAME.

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STARTING AN ULTIMATE Frisbee league to repair a war-torn country sounds like the plot of a buddy comedy, yet it's a reality in Iraqi Kurdistan. After German and American aid workers introduced Frisbees to the country in 2019, the sport quickly caught on. By 2023, the scrappy Duhok Shepherds team was flying to Dubai for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Ultimate Club Championship. It was the first time many team members had left Iraq. By November 2024, the team was competing in Doha, Qatar, their uniforms proudly displaying both the Iraqi national flag and the Kurdish tricolor.

The spread of Ultimate Frisbee testifies to a kind of Western soft power in the Middle East, one far friendlier than bombs or bullets.

Invented by New Jersey high schoolers in the 1960s and popularized by hippies, the sport is now the basis of a European relief effort. Beyond those aid organizations, European players have run grassroots fundraising efforts to get the Iraqi Ultimate league off the ground. And Kurdistan is not the only part of the region in the grip of Frisbee mania. The MENA Ultimate Club Championship, a tiny affair when it debuted in 2015, now boasts over 400 players across 20 teams, representing everyone from oil-rich monarchies to stateless nations such as the Kurds and Palestinians.