Josep Maria Bartomeu picks up awards for Best Club and Best President of the Year and Director Javier Bordas accepts the award for Best Media Attraction in Football Leo Messi wins Best Player Award
FC Barcelona was the centre of attention at tonight's ceremony of the 6th Globe Soccer Awards, held this Sunday in the framework of the 10th International Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Club, represented by its president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and its star, Leo Messi, was the protagonist of the ceremony, one that has become a classic in world football.
FC Barcelona won a total of four awards: Best Club, Best President, Best Player of the Year and Best Media Attraction in Football.
Director Javier Bordas, who accepted the Best Media Attraction in Football award on behalf of the Club said: "We are proud of this award because the media lets us to transmit the values of the Club worldwide. We have the most media friendly players and we have to keep growing our global projection."
FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu accepted the award for Best Club of the Year. "I thank the jury for this award that honours us ... It is difficult to win everything that we won and I thank the effort of players and coaches and the support of our fans. We enjoy our style of football and our philosophy, and our goal is to make people happy. This year we will try to win again. With Messi and the other players life is easier. They keep playing better and better and hopefully that will continue well into the future," he said.
Bartomeu also collected the award for Best President of the Year. "I am just one of the 140,000 members of FC Barcelona and I'm very proud to be your president. But this award belongs to our members and the 39 presidents who have led the Club throughout our 116-year history. I also thank the players for their effort this year."
The final award was given to Leo Messi, who was named the Best Player of the Year. The Argentine star, who player travelled to Dubai directly from his native Rosario, Argentina to accept the prize personally, received a large ovation from the audience. "It is very nice to receive these awards, but I always say that the group is what makes it possible," Messi said. When asked what he most remembered from last year, he said: "It is difficult to pick a single moment. It has been an extraordinary year and I'll take the whole year that FC Barcelona had." After receiving the award, Messi went quickly to the airport to catch a private flight to Barcelona to be ready for Monday's training session.
The rest of the winners were as follows — Best Coach of the Year: Marc Wilmot, Belgian national team coach; Best Referee of the Year: Irmatov; Best School of the Year: Benfica; Best Career Award: Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard; Best Agent of the Year: Jorge Mendes; Best GCC Player of the Year: Yasir Al-Shahrani.