Fifa Award to be held in Dubai in 2026, Gianni Infantino announces

Fifa, the global governing body for football, is partnering with Dubai to award the world’s leading football players, coaches, and teams. Called the Fifa Award, legends and figures of the sport will be awarded starting next year, the president revealed.

Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa since 2016, announced the partnership during the World Sports Summit on Monday.

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“We are investing billions of dollars in football development all over the world. As Fifa, we want to have the entire world involved,” he said during his keynote speech.

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“We need to develop club football everywhere in the world, and we need to give opportunities everywhere in the world for clubs and for players to play at the highest level,” he added.

He added that in addition to supporting players in around 211 countries, Fifa also gives grants to those countries to help them build a better infrastructure for football. Fifa said in 2023 that it aims to have elite talent development academies in all 211 member association countries by the end of 2027.

Infantino said that as of next year, there will be 100 academies, adding, “I don’t know if the UAE would like to have one, but we can move to 101 academies with the one in the UAE.” 

The World Sports Summit is a premier sports event held in Madinat Jumeirah from December 29 to December 30. Notable figures that will attend the Summit include Novak Djokovic, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and football legend Ronaldo Nazario.

“As Fifa, we want to have the entire world involved,” Infantino said. “As Fifa, we want to have the entire world involved.”

• Dubai

Hind Aldah

• 

hind@khaleejtimes.com

Hind Aldah covers business, tech, crypto and all that jazz for a younger audience. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.