Dubai: Uefa President Michel Platini will headline an array of guest speakers at the ninth Dubai International Sports Conference at Atlantis, The Palm, hotel on Sunday and Monday.
The French 1984 European Championship winner and three-time Ballon D’Or recipient will be joined by past and present players and coaches such as former Holland and Barcelona forward Patrick Kluivert, ex-England manager and current Russia coach Fabio Capello, former AC Milan player and current Rossoneri coach Filippo Inzaghi and current AC Milan forwards Fernando Torres and Stephen Al Shaarawy.
Also in attendance will be renowned former referee and current Uefa chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina, along with Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, Atletico Madrid president Miguel Angel Marin and AC Milan director Umberto Gandini.
The two-day conference is organised by Dubai Sports Council and will conclude with the sixth Globe Soccer Awards presented by Audi, which recognises excellence in the football industry.
This year’s conference and award ceremony act as added build-up to Tuesday’s much-anticipated friendly at The Sevens stadium between record 10-time European champions Real Madrid and seven-time winners AC Milan.
Platini will open Sunday’s first session discussing the future of football with Collina, before Agnelli discusses smart investment with Nottingham Forest’s Kuwaiti chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi, UAE Pro League chief executive officer Suhail Al Arifi and Emirates Airline Group’s senior vice president for airport services Mohammad Mattar. The third session will see Capello discuss AC Milan’s formula for success with Inzaghi and Al Sharaawy.
In Monday’s first session, Infantino will discuss smart administration with Gandini, president of the Italian National Olympic Committee Giovani Malago, sports marketing expert Marco Bogarelli and vice president of the Japanese Football Association Tashima Kohzo.
Koch Rainer, vice president of the German Football Association, will then discuss Germany’s 2014 World Cup success and Bayern Munich’s dominance with Bayern’s Moroccan centre-back Mehdi Benatia and Bayer Leverkusen’s team physician Karl-Henrich Dittmar.
The conference will then wrap up on a potentially awkward note, with Torres taking centre stage along with Atletico Madrid president Miguel Angel Marin and Kluivert. Torres has been linked with a return to boyhood club Atletico in the January transfer window after having scored just once for AC Milan since joining on loan from Chelsea in the summer.
Although the final debate is rather loosely focused around success stories from the perspective of clubs and players, Torres could be found dodging questions surrounding his poor form and the need to rediscover himself with a rumoured return to the Vicente Calderon Stadium this winter.
It had been thought Torres wouldn’t be travelling with AC Milan due to his seemingly imminent return to Spain, but if he does land in Dubai this on-stage encounter could provide some clues as to his future.
