Former World Cup stars Marco Van Basten of The Netherlands and Fabio Cannavaro of Italy will be among the key speakers at the Dubai International Sports Conference to be held at The Address Hotel in Dubai on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Organised by the Dubai Sports Council for the fifth time, the symposium entitled ‘Football Companies: Current Situation and Promising Future’, assumes greater significance with Qatar having been awarded the right to stage the Fifa World Cup in 2022.
The conference’s programme includes nine sessions which will deal with several important football issues in the presence of top decision makers from regional and international football federations and organisations, in addition to heads of sports management companies and clubs in the UAE.
The conference’s lectures were finalised at a meeting of the Organising Committee for the Conference which was chaired by Mohammed Al Kamali, Chairman of Professionalism and Development Committee and Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Conference. It was also attended by Khalid Bin Zayed, Member of the Executive Office of DSC and Deputy Chairman of the Conference’s Organising Committee, Dr Aisha Bu Sumait, the Conference’s Director, and Dr Ahmed Al Sharif, Secretary General of the DSC.
President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Mohammed Bin Hammam from Qatar will make the opening address on Tuesday at 9.30am on the ‘Asian Vision’. It will detail the strategy of the Asian Federation to develop football by presenting examples for local clubs and federations in the continent.
England manager Fabio Capello, FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and the Executive Director of AC Milan Jadini will speak on the topic of ‘Clubs vs National Teams: International Calendar and Player Insurance at 10.45am.
‘The Future of Players’ Agents’ is another topic which will be addressed on the first day by Fabio Cappello, Pietro Lo Monaco, Managing Director of Catania Club, Mario Gallavotti, member of Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber, and Giovanni Branchini, deputy chairman of European Alliance for Players’ Agents.
The first day’s programme will conclude with a symposium titled ‘Sports Arbitration Court for the Gulf Area’ at 2pm. It will be addressed by Majid M Garoub, Chairman of the Legal Committee for Saudi Arabia Federation and Jirayr Habibian, Legal Advisor for the UAE Professional League.
‘Visions of Professionalism’ is the subject which will kickstart the second day’s programme at 9.00 am. The symposium will be addressed by Dr. Ahmed Al Sharif, Dr Tariq Al Tayer, Chairman of the UAE Professionals Alliance, Mohammed Al Nowiser, member of the Leagues Committee in the AFC, and Dr Hafiz Al Medlij, member of the Executive Office of the AFC.
This will be followed at 10am by a discussion on ‘Commercial Analysis for Football Telecasting Rights’ to be addressed by Claude Ruibal, Chairman of Universal Sports Channel, Sridhar Maturi from Mahindra Satyam Company, and Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director of the European Football Association.
A lecture to be presented by Peter Kenyon, Managing Director of CAA Sports International under title ‘Administrative Professionalism: Commercial and Technical Management’ will be held at 11.00 am. It will also be addressed by Miguel Angel Gil, the Managing Director of Atletico Madrid, and Danil Prade, Sporting Director of AS Roma Club.
Another presentation to be held at 12.15pm titled ‘Clubs and Players Sponsorship’ will be addressed by Stuart Priestley of Emirates Airline, Laura Massi, Marketing Director of AC Milan and Monia Materazzi, R&P legal lawyer.
The Conference’s sessions will conclude on Wednesday at 1:30 pm with a lecture titled ‘Professionalism and Post Retirement Period’ by Marco Van Basten and Italian World Cup winning captain Cannavaro, who signed a three-year contract with Dubai club Al Ahli this season.
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