Manchester City dominated the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards on Palm Jumeirah on Friday night, with striker Erling Haaland collecting Best Men’s Player – although Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo did pick up a trio of honours, too.
The 14th edition of the awards, taking place at Atlantis, The Palm, and staged in partnership with Dubai Sports Council, saw City sweep six prizes, with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak named Best President, Pep Guardiola Best Coach, and the treble-winners Best Men’s Club. Rodri also took Best Midfielder, with Ederson named Best Goalkeeper.
The success commemorated City’s incredible 2022/23 season in which they became only the second club to win the English Premier League, the Uefa Champions League and the FA Cup. In 2023, Guardiola’s side captured five trophies in all, including the Uefa Super Cup and, last month, the Fifa Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
A sizeable City delegation, including their 25-man squad who are in the UAE for a warm-weather training camp, were present at the awards. Organisers said the winners were selected with help from more than 70 million fan votes from 225-plus countries and territories.
Haaland, who pipped to the award a plethora of stars including Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe, said upon receiving his award onstage: “First of all, the guys sitting here [teammates] are a bunch of amazing people. And my manager of course.
“It’s a fantastic club and the support we players get from the administration and the leaders of the club is massive as well. I really enjoy being there.”
Asked when he expected to return from the foot injury that has kept him sidelined since December 6, Haaland said: “I hope really soon, because I’m getting sick of not playing. So hopefully soon.”
Guardiola, voted best coach ahead of a number of high-profile counterparts such as Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone, gestured towards his players and reflected on a fantastic past 12 months for the Abu Dhabi-owned club.
“There are many, many reasons [for the success], especially all of them sitting there," Guardiola said. "Of course, we are here in UAE, where Abu Dhabi helped unconditionally. Yeah, really, really happy.”
Pressed to choose which of his all-conquering Barcelona side or this City team were better, Guardiola replied: “It’s like [selecting] between your mum and dad. Both are special.”
Ronaldo, who before the awards took to the stage alongside City pair Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias for a panel discussion under the banner of the 18th Dubai International Sports Conference, scooped awards for Best Middle East Player, the Globe Soccer Maradona Award for most goals scored in a calendar year, and Fans’ Favourite Player of the Year.
The forward, 39 next month, enjoyed a stunning 2023 in front of goal; he struck 54 times in the calendar year to finish ahead of the likes of Harry Kane, Mbappe and Haaland.
“I did an amazing season,” Ronaldo said. “I have to say thank you to my teammates, my coaches, from at Al Nassr, from the Portugal national team.
“I feel so proud. I never won this trophy, the Best Middle East Player. And [the] Maradona as well. I will put with passion in my museum. Because it’s two special ones."
Ronaldo added: "I have to say thank you to my wife, to my kids, who deal with my every day. Sometimes I know I am a little bit boring, but it’s my job to be consistent every time.”
On the Fans’ Favourite Award, the Portugal captain said: “For me, the most important thing in football is to make the fans happy, because it’s the people who go to the stadium to see goals, to see good games. And if they vote it's because they have passion for football.
"For me, it’s a special award, because most of the time we don’t think about the fans, because without you guys, football is nothing. So thank you very much voting for me. And keep supporting football and keep supporting Al Nassr and Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Other winners included in-form Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, who received the Power Horse Emerging Player Award, and Spanish World Cup winner Aitana Bonmati, who was named Best Women’s Player. Barcelona were voted Best Women’s Club, while Egyptian giants and current African champions Al Ahly received Best Middle East Club.
Elsewhere on the night, Brazil captain and Manchester United midfielder Casemiro, and former England and Chelsea captain John Terry, were presented with Player Career Awards. Meanwhile, Scaloni, who led Argentina to Fifa World Cup glory in 2022, received a Coach Career Award.
Full list of winners
Best Men’s Player: Erling Haaland (Manchester City and Norway)
Best Women’s Player: Aitana Bonmati (FC Barcelona and Spain)
Fans’ Favourite Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr and Portugal)
Best President: Khaldoon Al Mubarak (Manchester City)
Best Coach: Pep Guardiola
Best Middle East Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr and Portugal)
Best Men’s Club: Manchester City
Best Women’s Club: FC Barcelona
Best Midfielder: Rodri (Manchester City and Spain)
Best Goalkeeper: Ederson (Manchester City and Brazil)
Best Sporting Director: Cristiano Giuntoli (Juventus)
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes (Gestifute)
Best Middle East Club: Al Ahly SC (Egypt)
Power Horse Emerging Player: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid and England)
Globe Soccer Maradona Award: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr and Portugal)
Player Career Award: Casemiro
Player Career Award: John Terry
Coach Career Award: Lionel Scaloni
Best Middle East Media Company: Saudi Media Company
Serie A – Best Digital Content by a Club: AS Roma
Serie A – Best Digital Content by a Player: Rafael Leão (AC Milan and Portugal)
Best Social Media Influencer: Alnoufali_7
Best Digital Journalist: Fabrizio Romano
Best Esports Player: Msdossary7
Best Video Creator: Asgari_freestyle
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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yallacompare profile
Date of launch: 2014
Founder: Jon Richards, founder and chief executive; Samer Chebab, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Jonathan Rawlings, co-founder and chief financial officer
Based: Media City, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: 120 employees
Investors: 2014: $500,000 in a seed round led by Mulverhill Associates; 2015: $3m in Series A funding led by STC Ventures (managed by Iris Capital), Wamda and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority; 2019: $8m in Series B funding with the same investors as Series A along with Precinct Partners, Saned and Argo Ventures (the VC arm of multinational insurer Argo Group)
