Ronaldo vs Messi showdown as voting starts for Dubai Globe Soccer Gala
Fans to participate in online voting, contribute to 11 award categories by voting for their favourite players, coaches
November 21, 2023
With the 14th edition of the Dubai Globe Soccer Gala set to take place on January 19 next year, fans can now participate in the voting process for the prestigious awards to choose their favourite player, coach and club.
The first online voting phase for the awards — scheduled to take place at Atlantis Hotel — will remain open till December 7 with fans contributing to 11 out of the total 16 award categories.
The role of the fans will essentially become more important as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi — the world's leading football players — who arguably have one of the most staunch supporters worldwide, are also included in the first pre-selection.
Football fans, from 225 different countries, had cast more than 47 million votes last year.
According to marca.com, the first pre-selection phase also includes other football stars including Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, Rodri and Ruben Dias, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Mohamed Salah and Karim Benzema.
Meanwhile, in the second phase of voting, fans will be joined by an official Globe Soccer Gala jury comprising 30 notable figures such as Casillas, Figo, Totti, Capello and Lippi who will be responsible for the final selection from December 12 to 18.
Furthermore, Josep "Pep" Guardiola is seemingly the favourite of the coaches category that comprises 14 notable figures such as Lionel Scaloni, Mikel Arteta, Xavi Hernandez, Simone Inzaghi, Luis de la Fuente, Jonatan Giraldez, Sarina Wiegmann, Marcel Koller and last year's winner Carlo Ancelotti.
Additionally, LaLiga and the Premier League have also representation in the awards with six and 13 players, respectively — with the Premier League's players part of the 30 finalists.
Expressing his views on the awards, founder and CEO of Globe Soccer Tommaso Bendoni stressed the significance of the role played by the fans in the voting process.
"I am most excited to see how the fans vote - their voice has always been very important to us," he said.
