Recorded

Since its formation in 1971, the UAE has become a close friend and strategic partner of the United Kingdom. In this mini-series, The UAE at 50, we examine how the relationship between the two countries has developed over the past 50 years.

In this episode, we speak to two experts in archaeology based in the UAE about their most recent discoveries and how the young country is searching both its vast desert and deep waters to learn more about its ancient past.

Noura Hamad Al Hameli is a young Emirati archaeologist with the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi and Tim Power is a British archaeologist and historian specialising in Arabia and the Islamic world. He has been working as an academic, consultant and writer in the UAE since 2009 and is currently completing his next book, a 500-page history of the Emirati people.

Hosted by Layla Maghribi

In this bonus episode, The National is live from Adipec 2021 in Abu Dhabi, to discuss how the energy sector is evolving after the Covid-19 pandemic and Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow. Host Mustafa Alrawi talks to Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy, and a regular contributor to The National, about the outlook for oil and gas, how the industry will marry short-term supply needs with the path to net zero. Also, how viable is hydrogen as an option for the clean energy mix?

Hosted by Mustafa Alrawi

Since the Emirates’ formation 50 years ago, it has become a close friend and strategic partner of the UK.

In this miniseries, The UAE at 50, we speak to those at the heart of this connection about what it means and examine how the links between businesses, governments and institutions have developed over the period.

Hosted by Layla Maghribi

Interview conducted by Alice Haine

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson

Since the Emirates’ formation 50 years ago, it has become a close friend and strategic partner of the UK.

Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, who sits on the board of advisors of the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy, and Dr Richard Perry, advisor to Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency, who helped establish the institution decades ago, tell us how partnerships and collaborations with countries such as the UK are at the heart of the UAE’s goal to become a world leader in sustainability and renewable energy.

Hosted by Layla Maghribi

Ten years ago, Diego Maradona stunned the world as he arrived in the UAE to manage club team Al Wasl. In this series, Paul Radley, sportswriter for The National, and football correspondent John McAuley will be looking back at the time when Maradona mania arrived in the UAE.

Subscribe to this five-part special to hear the story in full.

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson.

In stark contrast to his gilded playing career, Diego Maradona never won a trophy as a manager. His spells in charge of teams were only ever brief, and often ended in turmoil.

And yet those who played for him during his time in the UAE remember him with deep affection. They describe a manager full of empathy, warmth, and charisma, who would back them - even when all was lost.

In Episode 4 of our podcast series, hosts John McAuley and Paul Radley hear from a number of players who were managed by Maradona at Al Wasl and Fujairah.

The question to each of them was a simple one: what was it like to be coached by one of the most effervescent characters in all of sport?

Subscribe to this five-part special to hear the story in full.

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson.

Diego Maradona is, for many, the greatest footballer to have ever played the game. So what made him so good?

In 1982, when aged 22, he moved from Boca Juniors to Barcelona for a world-record $7.6 million fee.

During his two years at Camp Nou, Maradona was a constant thorn in the side of arch-rivals Real Madrid, even helping Barcelona defeat the old enemy in the 1983 Copa del Rey final.

He would spend two spells at Boca, returning in 1995 following an ignominious exit from the World Cup the previous summer. Two years later, he brought down the curtain on his professional career with a 2-1 victory away to bitter rivals River Plate.

That wasn’t technically when Maradona hung up his boots, though. In 2011, he arrived in the UAE to manage Al Wasl, and was a regular on the 5-aside or 7-aside pitch. Apparently, he treated those games as anything but recreational.

In Episode 3 of our podcast series looking at the Maradona's time in the country, hosts Paul Radley and John McAuley speak to a former opponent at Real Madrid, an ex-teammate at Boca, and even a close friend who was tasked with organising the weekly “friendly” matches in Dubai.

True to form, they attest to the fact the World Cup winner could be a handful on and off the pitch.

Subscribe to this five-part special to hear the story in full.

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson.

Diego Maradona was a magnet for news throughout his career, and his relationship with the media rarely ran smooth.

When he came to Dubai a decade ago to manage Al Wasl, the glare of the limelight might have been less harsh than it had been for him in Buenos Aires, Barcelona or Naples. And yet he still managed to find his way into scrapes.

From kicking supporters of his own team, wading into the stands to remonstrate with opposition fans, and fostering fierce rivalries both near and far, Maradona frequently vented his fury.

In Episode 2 of our podcast series looking at his time in the country, hosts Paul Radley and John McAuley speak to those tasked with trying to keep track of El Diego’s escapades in Emirates.

Subscribe to this five-part special to hear the story in full.

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson.

It marks one of the most extraordinary developments in UAE sport, a moment that carried Emirati football beyond its borders and to the world. Ten years ago, in May 2011, Diego Maradona was announced as the new manager of Al Wasl, a Dubai-based club fourth in the nascent UAE Pro League.

The previous summer, Maradona had coached Argentina at the World Cup in South Africa, aiming to lead his country to football’s greatest prize, just as he did most famously as a player in 1986. Now he was appointed head coach at Wasl, a decorated club in the UAE top flight but without a trophy in four seasons.

Maradona signed a two-year contract, promising to restore his new employers to former glory. It did not quite work out that way, but Fifa’s joint player of the century would go on to make Dubai his home for the best part of the next decade.

To commemorate that remarkable period, The National has created a podcast series entitled “Diego Maradona: The Dubai Years”, with insight from some of the people who knew best the colourful Argentine during his time here.

In Episode 1, hosts Paul Radley and John McAuley detail the whirlwind moment Maradona was considered as Wasl manager, what it meant for UAE football, his arrival in the Emirates, and that first press conference in which the World Cup winner set the stage for what became a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

Subscribe to this five-part special to hear the story in full.

Produced by Ayesha Khan and Arthur Eddyson.