Among the few functions Pele attended while in Dubai, he received old pictures of the Al Nasr football club from former players. Afsal Sham / Al Ittihad
Among the few functions Pele attended while in Dubai, he received old pictures of the Al Nasr football club from former players. Afsal Sham / Al Ittihad

Pele gave Ronaldo Ballon d’Or award but Messi is ‘the best in the world’



DUBAI // Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has made no secret of the fact he is in the market for a new striker this transfer window, yet even the Premier League leaders’ most ambitious fans must have performed a double-take as they perused the internet yesterday afternoon.

“Pele jets into the Emirates,” read one website headline; “Pele signs on at the Emirates,” read another.

The latter is slightly misleading as the greatest striker to ever play the beautiful game has not agreed to play at the North London club’s ground. Instead, the Brazilian has signed on with Emirates Airline as a global ambassador.

The Dubai-based carrier has long been involved in sports sponsorship deals, most famously that of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Yet yesterday’s announcement that the 73 year old will represent the airline around the world in the build-up to this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, is only the second instance of a tie-up with an individual athlete.

The three-time World Cup winner did jet into the Emirates as he was chauffeured around Dubai making appearances, garnering publicity and undertaking photoshoots. Few people can put Burj Khalifa in the shade, yet Pele gave it a go.

Before that though, he posed with Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, the divisional senior vice president of commercial operations at Emirates, who introduced him as “Brazil’s king of football and a global icon: recognised, respected and idolised by people around the world – including me”.

Pele, addressing the media in English, spoke briefly of his recent honorary Ballon d’Or award, as well as his thoughts on the Messi-Ronaldo debate and his expectations of this summer’s showpiece.

None of it proved particularly explosive, yet it is Pele and so, by default, it is newsworthy.

“I am an emotional guy,” was his explanation as to why he cried while receiving his honorary award earlier this week. “In my time, we didn’t have the Golden Ball and I never played in Europe, so it was the only trophy missing in my home.”

At the same ceremony, Pele had presented a similarly tearful Cristiano Ronaldo with the 2013 Ballon d’Or award, however, he yesterday hailed Lionel Messi as the best in the world.

“Now it is Messi, no doubt,” he said. “He has been the one playing at the top for the past few years. Now we have Cristiano Ronaldo, who has a different style, is a great goalscorer and an excellent player, but Messi is the player who has been more consistent over the past few years.”

Pele helped Brazil win the ultimate prize in international football in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and has said in the past he expects his country to reach the final in July.

The main threat to his country winning a sixth title, he said, will come from Europe. “Brazil was always a strong team in attack,” he said.

“This year though is the first time the team is well prepared in midfield and back. My opinion, six months before the World Cup final, is that the best teams are Spain and Germany.

“They are the two most organised teams, but you must also respect the traditional teams like Italy, England, Portugal and Argentina.”

gmeenaghan@thenational.ae

Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

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  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
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What is an FTO Designation?

FTO designations impose immigration restrictions on members of the organisation simply by virtue of their membership and triggers a criminal prohibition on knowingly providing material support or resources to the designated organisation as well as asset freezes. 

It is a crime for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to or receive military-type training from or on behalf of a designated FTO.

Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances removable from, the United States.

Except as authorised by the Secretary of the Treasury, any US financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which an FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Treasury Department.

Source: US Department of State

One-off T20 International: UAE v Australia

When: Monday, October 22, 2pm start

Where: Abu Dhabi Cricket, Oval 1

Tickets: Admission is free

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Darcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Peter Siddle

How to help

Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now

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.”

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now