Robert Lewandowski to be star draw at Dubai Sports Conference
Bayern Munich star and Fifa Player of the Year to debut at the annual fare
Dubai: Fifa Player of the Year Robert Lewandowski will be a star draw at the Dubai International Sports Conference, scheduled to take place in Dubai on December 27.
The Pole star was recognised for a sensational season, which saw the 32-year-old sharp-shooter score a staggering 55 goals in just 47 appearances for Bayern Munich. He finished as top goalscorer in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, where his tally of 15 goals was five more than the next best striker, Erling Braut Haaland.
Lewandowski’s stellar season saw Bayern win every game in Europe, including the Champions League final against Paris St-Germain, as well as the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double at home. The German powerhouses have added the DFB Supercup and UEFA Super Cup to their trophy closet since.
Recognised by Uefa as the European Player of the Year earlier in October, the Poland international was named Fifa Men’s Player of the Year last week ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He became the first Polish player or a player from a German club to win the Fifa Player of the Year award since its inception in 1991 and he is only the second player after Luka Modric in 2018 to break a 13-year Messi-Ronaldo hegemony.
Lewandowski is also only the third winner of the Fifa Men’s Player of the Year award based outside the Spanish La Liga this century – the earlier two were Zinedine Zidane (Juventus in 2000) and Kaka (AC Milan in 2007).
The Pole should also be a strong candidate to win the Player of the Year title at the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards, where he is competing for the honours with Ronaldo and Messi again.
At the Dubai International Sports Conference, Lewandowski will share his personal experience and details about his journey to the top of world football, as well as his insatiable appetite for goals and winning individual honours at the age of 32.
Lewandowski’s participation as a speaker at the Dubai International Sports Conference will be an invaluable opportunity for UAE football players, and indeed for players from around the globe, to get personal insights from one of the world’s best players, and to learn from his experience and get inspired by the Pole’s footballing journey.
One of the plans of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative under the patronage of Shaikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the conference will be held at the Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa this year.
Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC) under the theme ‘Football at the Summit’, this year’s Dubai International Sports Conference (DISC), has been bringing football’s top stakeholders together since 2006 for extensive discussions on ways to develop and enrich the sport at the domestic, regional and international level.