Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The new edition of the Prince Muhammad Bin Salman Professional Cup Professional League tournament kicked off on Saturday with players donning jerseys having their names written in an Arabic script.

This came as a gesture from the Ministry of Culture to mark its celebration of the Year of Arabic Calligraphy. Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah announced earlier that 2020 would be designated as the “Year of Arabic Calligraphy.”

The Ministry of Culture worked in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports to include the Arabic language in the jerseys of club players in all matches of the Prince Muhammad Bin Salman Professional Cup Professional League tournament for the 2020/2021 season.

The jerseys of all professional players appeared decorated in Arabic for the first time in the history of the football league in the Kingdom, where the names of the players are written using the Thuluth script, which is one of the main ancient Arabic calligraphy scripts that dates back to the fourth century AH, and is characterized by its flexibility, durability of its composition and the beauty of its drawing geometric.

The initiative to Arabize jerseys of the players comes as part of the Ministry of Culture’s efforts to celebrate the arts of Arabic calligraphy and enhance its presence in all walks of life within the Year of Arabic Calligraphy initiative.

The ministry has organized a series of activities and events with an aim to involve the community and institutions in celebrating the Arabic calligraphy that carried and preserved the treasures of Arab culture over the past centuries.