DUBAI — The 2020 edition of Dubai Globe Soccer Awards has ended after hosting and recognizing the greatest football talent of the season and of the century. The ceremony took place following the Dubai International Sports Conference, organized by the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), which brought together a distinguished panel of influential leaders in the world of football to discuss the most current issues in international football. This year marked a special edition of the Globe Soccer Awards, as it recognized the best talent of the 2020 season alongside the sport’s legendary figures from the past 20 years. For the first time in the history of the Awards, fans from all over the world were invited to vote for their favorite nominees, and more than 21 million votes were cast. Nine categories of awards were presented during the ceremony, which saw Polish talent Robert Lewandowski triumph as Player of the Year 2020, a salute to the top scorer of the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup who has stacked up victories this year with Bayern Munich, with the club receiving the Globe Soccer Award for Club of the Year 2020. Bayern successes did not end there, with coach Hans-Dieter Flick awarded the prize for Coach of the Year 2020. After an incredible season that saw him lead his club to victory in the Bundesliga, winning both the Cup and Super Cup for Germany, as well as the UEFA Champions League and Super Cup. Among the numbers of Flick’s Bayern that will go down in history, will be the 11 wins in 11 games achieved during the last edition of the UEFA Champions League. It was also a memorable night for Portugal, with the crowning of Cristiano Ronaldo as Player of the Century 2001-2020, and ‘super-agent’ Jorge Mendes, receiving his tenth Globe Soccer award this year, but this time for Agent of the Century 2001-2020. The Juventus champion and Portuguese agent added two more cups to their already crowded trophy shelves, with Ronaldo managing to beat Barcelona champion Lionel Messi, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Ronaldinho. After accepting his award for Player of the Century 2001-2020, Ronaldo said, “Year after year, Dubai gathers the best players, coaches and directors of world football in the same place for an entire week, showing how respected the Globe Soccer Awards has become. Dubai never fails to amaze even in the most difficult of times and I am very happy to be back for such a special occasion. Being awarded Player of the Century adds an even higher dimension to everything I have achieved in the last 20 years.” The Club of the Century 2001-2020, went to Real Madrid as the numbers for this Spanish club speak for themselves, not to mention their record of victories. Over the last 20 years, this club brought home no fewer than five UEFA Champions League titles, among many other prestigious trophies. Accepting the illustrious award was the legendary Emilio Butragueño. It was another Spaniard, Josep “Pep” Guardiola, who was chosen by the fans to be named Coach of the Century 2001-2020. The crowning achievement of an amazing career that has seen Josep bring his vision of football to succeed in three of the most challenging European championships; with Barcelona in the Liga, with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and with Manchester City in the Premier League. The careers of two Spanish champions, whose names are already engraved in the history of football, were also recognized earlier tonight with Globe Soccer’s Player Career Awards. Former goalkeeper Iker Casillas, universally famed as being among the top goalkeepers in the world, and the Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, one of only seven players in the world to have managed to win the triple twice. To complete the list of tonight’s winners was the Egyptian Club, Al-Ahly, record holder for wins at both national and international level for the Middle Eastern region, that this edition of the Globe Soccer Awards named Top Title Winners of Middle East. • Player of the Century 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo • Coach of the Century 2001-2020: Josep Guardiola • Club of the Century 2001-2020: Real Madrid • Agent of the Century 2001-2020: Jorge Mendes • Top Title Winners of Middle East: Al-Ahly • Player of the Year 2020: Robert Lewandowski • Club of the Year 2020: Bayern Munich • Coach of the Year 2020: Hans-Dieter Flick • Player Career Award: Iker Casillas and Gerard Piqué Tommaso Bendoni, CEO of the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards added, “We are honored to have been able to show our appreciation to the players, clubs, coaches and agents who, during a difficult year for everyone, continued to work so that football did not stop and kept millions of fans around the world entertained. We also wanted to recognise the developments and successes over the last 20 years of football, honouring those who have shown skills and leadership during this time. “We would like thank the Dubai Sports Council once again for their support so that the event could go ahead as planned and so that we could award many of the winners in person. We also want to extend our thanks to our Title Sponsor TikTok and to all our Platinum Sponsors, Al Nabooda Automobiles — Audi, Abu Dubai Media, Bulgari, Dubai Sports, Emirates, Lavazza, and Sea Gate Shipyard for helping us host another fantastic event.” — SG