“World Sports Summit”: Gianni Infantino Announces the “FIFA Awards 2026” in Dubai
Under the slogan “Uniting the World Through Sport,” the inaugural edition of the World Sports Summit began this Monday at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The event is held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and President of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai.
The summit brought together nearly 1,500 sports leaders and decision-makers, along with a host of sports stars from various disciplines. The opening ceremony featured a speech by Khalfan Belhoul, Vice President of the Dubai Sports Council, who emphasized that the launch of the World Sports Summit embodies the UAE’s vision to unite the world through sport and strengthen its role as a global platform bringing together leaders, decision-makers, and industry experts.
Belhoul stressed that “the fundamental message we wish to convey lies in the importance of leveraging the assets of the United Arab Emirates, which has become an attractive destination for investors, athletes, and tourists from around the world,” noting that the idea to organize this summit stems directly from the guidance and support of the Emirati leadership.
He added: “What we are witnessing today is the result of a leadership vision spanning over 50 years, through which the state has achieved qualitative accomplishments that some might think would require hundreds of years.”
Belhoul also highlighted that sport now has a major influence on generations, no longer serving merely as a competitive framework but as a powerful lever that bridges cultures and impacts societies, cities, and nations. In this regard, the summit serves as a global platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities facing the sports sector worldwide.
He concluded by affirming that the choice of Dubai as the summit’s host city reflects its global status and leadership in organizing major events, noting that the event marks the beginning of a long-term cooperation process, launched from Dubai, with the ambition to contribute to the development of sport globally and promote its universal human values in service of societies and peoples.
The opening ceremony also featured the presence of Gianni Infantino, President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), who took the opportunity to announce that Dubai will host the FIFA Awards 2026, in partnership with the UAE.
The FIFA President described the future of football as promising, reviewing several reforms and developments within the sport aimed at strengthening its position as the world’s most popular game. He revealed that FIFA has received 115 million ticket requests for the 2026 World Cup, averaging approximately 10 million requests per day, describing this enthusiasm as historic and unprecedented.
Infantino also noted that FIFA currently operates 100 football academies worldwide and invited the United Arab Emirates to host the 101st academy on their territory.
The summit features the participation of an elite group of international sports stars from various disciplines, including Ronaldo Nazário, Paolo Maldini, Andrés Iniesta, Cafu, Peter Crouch, Clarence Seedorf, Novak Djokovic, Alessandro Del Piero, Michel Salgado, Carles Puyol, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Roberto Baggio, Baron Davis, and Swin Cash, among other leading figures in the world of sport.
Editorial team/le7tv
