Business & Money | Sunday 20 November, 2016 5:18 am |

duFC, the only international scouting platform in partnership with LaLiga, the world’s strongest league, and featuring the UAE’s Schools and Streets Cups, was officially ranked as a 5-star event for 2015/2016 under the Sports Events Ranking System.

Results of the ranking system, which is managed by a Swiss specialized company, were ratified by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, and were revealed at a ceremony held at Armani Hotel Burj Khalifa last night.

 

duFC is the only local event in the 5-star category, joining the ranks of four other events, all global in nature, taking place in Dubai such as the Dubai World Cup, the DP World Tour Championship and ATP World Tour Tennis, an unprecedented achievement for a youth sporting event on the UAE sports calendar.

Organized by sports marketing specialists Inspiratus, in partnership with du, LaLiga, the Sports Councils and all Education Authorities, duFC, featuring UAE Schools and Streets Cup, was the only local and youth football event selected in the 5-star ranking, which reviews thousands of sports events taking place in Dubai annually.

The support of du has enabled duFC to be free of charge to all participants as part of their commitment to engage the largest number of youth around the world’s most popular sport, football.  Commenting on the results, Mr. Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said, “Rewarding duFC with a 5-star ranking reflects du’s commitment to this truly groundbreaking platform that is producing international footballs stars right here from the UAE and providing talented youth from across the nation the opportunity to play football at world class standards and to get discovered, trained and molded into future stars of football – a unique opportunity for our youth.”

The ‘Sports Events Ranking System’, is an initiative by the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of DSC, to rank sports events according to 13 criteria and 29 key performance indicators (KPIs), and classify them under five categories: event development, economic development, sports development, social development and brand development.  duFC earned top scores across all categories.

The Sports Events Ranking System, introduced last year, is part of the UAE’s efforts to set new global benchmarks for excellence in every sphere of life including the sports sector.

Commenting on the ranking results, Fernando Sanz, LaLiga General Director in MENA & Head of International Projects, said, "We are extremely proud of LaLiga’s partnership with a world-class platform such as duFC, which is creating a pipeline of football stars to play in national and international clubs and teams and is executed to LaLiga’s highest standards. It’s great to see duFC receiving the highest recognition this evening and we look forward to seeing LaLiga’s next stars emerging from the UAE.”

Speaking after the event Inspiratus CEO Hussein Murad said: “We are honored of the recognition duFC platform has received as the highest rank sporting event in Dubai. This platform is delivering football excellence to the boys and girls across the UAE while making dreams come true. We thank our partners du and LaLiga as we celebrate this great recognition and dedicate this recognition to all the youth across the UAE who partake in the event year on year – their success is the inspiration that drives the platforms success.”

duFC is the nation’s official youth football platform offering boys and girls 11-18 with the opportunity to play football at world class standards.  It is the only international youth scouting platform conducted in partnership with LaLiga, the world’s strongest league.