DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — About 25 miles southeast into the desert here, away from the glittering array of skyscrapers that rise into the clouds, lies a sparkling new stadium that is home to one of global rugby’s biggest events.

It is, in many ways, completely incongruous: The stadium is next to a camel-racing track and in the heart of a country whose national rugby team did not officially exist until 2011. But the stadium’s setting is also perfect.

For years, rugby was primarily the province of a handful of nations in Europe (England, Scotland, Italy, Ireland, France and Wales) and a few from the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). The sport, while undeniably popular, lacked reach.

In recent years, though, rugby has blossomed worldwide, in large part because of the expansion of one particular form of the game. Rugby sevens, a streamlined and faster-paced version of the traditional style known as rugby union, is the form that will be used when rugby returns to the Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games — a reality that has accelerated a change in rugby’s scope.