Dubai: Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of Dubai Executive Council and Dubai Sports Council, feels that the growing number of local and international sports events hosted by the emirate reflects the special attention paid by Dubai to sport sector.
The community-focused sports events designed to cater for different age groups and categories, according to Hamdan, are also aimed at making Dubai the “most active city” in the world.
Sheikh Hamdan’s remarks came on the occasion of the 14th edition of Dubai International Sports Conference, an affiliate of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, which will take place under the theme ‘Future Football Accelerators’ on December 28 at Madinat Jumeirah Conference Centre’s Joharah Ballroom. The conference will attract prominent football stars, coaches, decision-makers and club managers.
Sheikh Hamdan welcomed the participants in an address and said that he hopes that the conference’s discussions will result in recommendations that will help conceptualise a better future for sport here in general and football in particular.
“Since the first meeting of Dubai Sports Council, we decided to launch an international sports conference that gathers the most successful federations, clubs, prominent sportsmen and coaches to share their professional experiences and success stories, and to present their ideas to promote sports in general and football in particular. Such event was also aspired to offer our sports professionals the opportunity to learn about best international practices, and to start closer cooperation with their peers from across the globe,” Sheikh Hamdan said.
“We are proud today to have an international platform to share successful experiences, programmes and initiatives with prominent football leaders, including The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), to develop the game globally. The conference is also a platform for renowned football stars, and the most successful coaches as well as decision-makers, which further reflect the growing role of the conference that annually gathers prominent football personalities from around the world,” Sheikh Hamdan added.
Mattar Al Tayer, Vice-Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, thanked Sheikh Hamdan for his directives to launch the conference, which has developed into an annual gathering to share the most successful professional experiences, and for his support to make the event a real success to help the development of local sport sector and form successful model to serve local sport — mainly football.