Dubai is the Disneyland of sport, says Diego Maradona
Football legend Diego Maradona has claimed that "Dubai is the Disneyland of sport for the rest of the world".The Argentine icon was recently made a sports ambassador for the emirate by Crown Prince of Dubai Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, following a stint as manager of UAE-based club Al Wasl.Maradona clearly loves life in the Gulf and he turned up to watch some top-class tennis at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open last week.He told Gulf News that he likes tennis and was delighted that so many star players were competing in Dubai."This shows the beauty and greatness of Dubai and its leaders. They know what to do to make this place better," Maradona was quoted as saying."There is no place better than Dubai that can have such kind of events. Everyone is so much involved in sports."In between matches, the ex-Barcelona and Napoli superstar met up with former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, who he described as a "humble person".Although he is obviously a big fan of a number of sports, it was on the football pitch that the Fifa World Cup-winner was most comfortable.Maradona had a glittering career and he still crops up in conversations when people discuss the best players ever to have graced the game.He is not the only high-profile name to take a job in the UAE's Pro League.Former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson recently accepted a role as a technical director at Dubai club Al Nasr and a number of famous players have also decided to give the Gulf a try.Ex-Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan and Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma - once of Porto, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea - are arguably the two biggest names to compete in the Pro League at the moment.Dubai also attracts more than its fair share of European clubs for mid-season training camps, with the likes of Borussia Monchengladbach, Norwich City, West Ham United, Sunderland, Reading, Queens Park Rangers and Capital One Cup-winners Swansea City all visiting the city in the last few months.