Here is all you need to know about the Global Soccer Awards including its past winners list, founder, owner, CEO, voting, categories, century award and more
The evening’s star-studded 14th edition of the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards took place at the stunning Atlantis on the Palm. Football players from around the world, coaches, and celebrities attend the event’s yearly ceremony.
What are the Globe Soccer Awards, owner, founder, CEO winners list and voting explained
Founded in 2010 by Tommaso Bendoni, the first edition of the Globe Soccer Awards started with three categories, expanding to six in 2011 and to ten in 2012.
IRiccardo Silva, the current majority shareholder of Globe Soccer, is an authority on the subject, especially in the sports TV rights sector. An Italian investor with a successful track record, between 2004 and 2016 Silva founded and managed together with Andrea Radrizzani (current owner of Leeds United) MP & Silva, an international company with sites in 20 countries that became the world’s leading distributor of sports TV rights and when they sold it in 2016 to the Chinese group Everbright Securities for 1.4 billion euros, they had the rights to the soccer World Cup, the Premier League, the Italian Serie A, the NBA, Formula 1, the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the NFL, WBSC (baseball)
He is the president and owner of Miami FC, which competes in the USL, the second North American soccer division and is also co-owner of AC Milan as he is one of the investors of the American fund RedBird Capital that bought the historic Italian club for 1.2 billion. In 2016 Riccardo Silva founded the investment company Silva International, whose activity covers various sectors such as technology, entertainment, media, catering, fashion, art and sports and in 2017 he acquired a significant stake in Globe Soccer.
✨ Cristiano Giuntoli, presented with the Best Sporting Director award at the 14th edition of the Globe Soccer Awards on January 19, 2024, in Dubai, U.A.E. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/xuS7vDAxYw
— Globe Soccer Awards (@Globe_Soccer) January 22, 2024
At the 2023 Globe Soccer Awards ceremony held in Dubai on Friday, Erling Haaland was voted the Best Men’s Player. Haaland helped lead Manchester City to victory in the Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League by scoring 52 goals in 53 games during the previous campaign.
Although the captain of Argentina was not present at the ceremony on Friday, Messi was also nominated for Globe Soccer’s Best Men’s Player award. Jude Bellingham, Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Victor Osimhen, Mohamed Salah, Bernardo Silva, and Vinicius Junior were the other nominees.
Who are the winners of the 2023 Globe Soccer Awards?
- Best Men’s Player: Erling Haaland
- Best Women’s Player: Aitana Bonmati
- Fan’s Favourite Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
- Best Middle East Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
- Maradona Award: Cristiano Ronaldo
- Best Men’s Club: Manchester City
- Best Women’s Club: FC Barcelona
- Best Coach: Pep Guardiola
- Best President: Khaldoon Al Mubarak
- Power Horse Emerging Player: Jude Bellingham
- Best Midfielder: Rodrigo
- Best Goalkeeper: Ederson
- Player Career Award: Casemiro
- Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
- Player Career Award: John Terry
- Best Sporting Director: Cristiano Giuntoli
- Coach Career Award: Lionel Scaloni
- Best Middle East Club: Al Ahly
What is the Dubai Globe Soccer Award?
The Globe Soccer Awards, also referred to as the Dubai d’Or, honour football accomplishments.
Every year, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Globe Soccer organises an international football tournament that features participation from prominent clubs and international football organisations including FIFA, UEFA, and ECA.
Dubai Globe Soccer Award owner and CEO
The European Players’ Agents Association (EFAA), the European Club Association (ECA), and the Dubai Sports Council organised the inaugural ceremony, which was initially primarily centred around the transfer market and that is where it all started.
The CEO of the Dubai Globe Soccer Award is Tommaso Bendoni. He explained, as per MARCA:
It started out as a private gala dinner in 2010 with three career awards designated by the organizers. It was born with the idea of holding a gala dinner with top footballers and agents as part of the Dubai International Sports Conferences organized since 2006 by the Dubai Sports Council, and it was so well received that we decided to repeat it the following year.”
Dubai Globe Soccer Award voting
The multi-disciplinary awards ceremony is voted by fans. It also includes a world-class panel of judges. Two rounds of voting are used to choose the award recipients, and football fans from all over the world can participate.
The finalists are chosen in the first round by the general public from a pool of nominations. Public votes and a jury made up of football industry professionals like journalists, agents, coaches, and former players make the final selection in the second stage.
Who has won the most awards at the Dubai Globe Soccer Award?
Ronaldo won six times as the “Best Player of the Year” between 2011 and 2019. He also took home ten other honours, such as the “Goodwill Award,” “Player of the Century,” “Best Middle East Player,” “Top Goal Scorer of All Time,” and “Best Media Attraction in Football.”
This year also, the superstar of Al Nassr took up the Best Middle East Player and Fans’ Favourite Player trophies in a lavish ceremony held at Atlantis. More than five million votes were cast by supporters worldwide for the former Real Madrid and Manchester United player.
Globe Soccer Awards extended its categories
The rise of this ceremony has been remarkable since December 2010, when Miguel Ángel Gil, Adriano Galliani, and Jorge Mendes took home only three honours from the inaugural occasion.
Not only have there been more awards (21 in this edition), but the public’s interest (33,124,813 votes cast in two rounds via social networks to choose this year’s finalists) and the winners’ category have also expanded.
Globe Soccer Awards Men’s Best All-time winners
- 2010: No Best player was announced that year.
- 2011: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2012: Radamel Falcao
- 2013: Franck Ribery
- 2014: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2015: Lionel Messi
- 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2018: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2019: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2020: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2021: Cristiano Ronaldo
- 2022: Karim Benzema
- 2023: Erling Haaland
Globe Soccer Awards of the Century
The organisation chose to present a special prize to honour the greatest player of the 20th century during the 2012 Globe Soccer Awards presentation.
- Player of the 20th Century: Diego Maradona
There was no other category in the century award however, the categories got expanded for the 21st century.
- Player of the 21st Century: Cristiano Ronaldo
- Coach of the 21st Century: Pep Guardiola
- Club of the 21st Century: Real Madrid
- Agent of the 21st Century: Jorge Mendes