Dubai: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are both in the running for dual honours at the special edition of the Dubai Sports Council and Globe Soccer Awards, to be held at Armani Hotel on December 27.
Both Ronaldo and Messi have made the cut in the ‘Player of the Year 2020’ and ‘Player of the Century 2001-2020’ categories of the award that will be held at the foot of the world’s tallest building.
Joining Ronaldo and Messi in the Player of the Year 2020 award again this time is Robert Lewandowski and Real Madrid striker and Dubai regular Karim Benzema.
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Shortlisted in the ‘Player of the Century 2001-2020’ award, alongside the Juventus and FC Barcelona stars is an extraordinary array of over 25 international names, including British legend David Beckham, Neymar and Mohammad Salah.
The equally illustrious names of Didier Deschamps, Alex Ferguson and Josep Guardiola stand out in the competition for ‘Coach of the Century 2001-2020’ alongside other outstanding managers such as José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and current manager of Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane.
The Dubai Sports Council and Globe Soccer Awards further strengthen their 12-year relationship by staging the annual edition of the Dubai International Sports Conference along with a special edition of the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards on December 27.
The Dubai International Sports Conference, which has hosted over 200 speakers since its first edition, will once again welcome some of the football’s most prominent international players, while the Globe Soccer Awards, which recognised more than 100 winners who have shown outstanding performances in the game, will present new categories this year.
Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
In light of the global impact of Covid-19, this year’s Dubai Globe Soccer Awards will be a special edition, highlighting 2020’s top talent alongside legendary players, clubs and agents from the past 20 years. For the first time, four of the awards will consider the seasons contested by the nominees between 2001 and 2020 in a unique series that celebrates the Best of the Century.
The eight categories in contention this year are Player of the Century 2001-2020, Coach of the Century 2001-2020, Club of the Century 2001-2020, Agent of the Century 2001-2020, Player of the Year 2020, Club of the Year 2020, Coach of the Year 2020 and Player Career Award.
Meanwhile, the Club of the Year 2020 award is once again up for grabs with six international clubs in the fray – led by Liverpool, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
Tommaso Bendoni, CEO of Dubai Globe Soccer was pleased to innovate this year. “This special edition is dedicated to all the protagonists in football who exposed themselves to the risk of the virus, gave up their vacations and rest in order to play every three days, travelled all around the world in order to offer millions of people a few moments of distraction,” Bendoni pointed out.
“Dubai could not miss this event in the most difficult and complicated season. The 2020 edition is a way to show our appreciation and celebrate everyone in football who remained at the frontline and have done an extraordinary job. This is also our way to celebrate the new year 2021, which will give us hope – thanks to the vaccine that will be available soon,” he added.
“All of this would not have been possible without the support of our partners. We thank the sensibility and love that the UAE and the Dubai Sports Council have demonstrated to this sport. Our collaboration will continue in light of the Expo 2020 next year where the Globe Soccer Awards will have the greatest celebration ever,” he stressed.
The first shortlist will be entirely decided by the fans, who can vote through vote.globesoccer.com starting now for their favourite nominee in each category, with the finalists being announced in early December for a final decision from the Globe Soccer Jury – a panel of leading industry experts. Voting will take place on Globe Soccer’s website, on the new event title sponsor TikTok, as well as via the media partners’ platform such as Kooora in the Arab region.