Dubai, UAE – January 4, 2024: Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo has added another impressive haul to his personal trophy cabinet after eclipsing Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, and Erling Haaland to clinch the Maradona Award for Best Goalscorer ahead of this month’s Dubai Globe Soccer Awards 2023, organised in collaboration with Dubai Sports Council and presented by Nakheel.
Ronaldo, whose tally of 54 goals in 59 games represents his best goal haul in a single calendar year since 2017 when he netted 53 times for Real Madrid, cemented his place as football’s top marksman in 2023 ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (52 goals in 53 games) and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane (52 in 57 games), while Manchester City’s Erling Haaland ended the year with 50 goals in 60 matches.
Ronaldo’s latest accolade capped a magical 12 months for the evergreen superstar, now 38, who has already scored 34 times in as many league games for Saudi Pro League title challengers Al Nassr. The world’s all-time record goalscorer, with 873 strikes currently to his name, is also in contention to land the Best Men’s Player, Best Middle East Player, and Fans’ Favourite Player at the glitzy Dubai Globe Soccer Awards ceremony, which will be held at Atlantis, The Palm, on January 19. One of the world’s largest man-made islands, Palm Jumeirah is a marvel of luxury and engineering thanks to leading Dubai real estate developer Nakheel.
The second and final round of voting across the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards’ 11 main categories and six digital categories, including the inaugural Serie A awards, saw more than 50 million votes cast by football fans worldwide. The avalanche of votes has resulted in an accumulative total exceeding 70 million throughout the entire process – double the number of votes registered in 2022.
Globe Soccer’s Official Jury – made up of more than 30 key football industry figures, including Francesco Totti, Iker Casillas, Luis Figo, and Marcello Lippi – were also involved in the final selection process, which closed on December 28, 2023.
Meanwhile, an unprecedented number of downloads were recorded for the new Globe Soccer application, with 1.5 million people registering their votes to/on the dedicated app.
The Dubai Globe Soccer Awards 2023 will be broadcast live worldwide, with Saudi Sports Company (SSC) serving as the event’s official host broadcaster, with online streaming accessible on various channels.
Further announcements and updates ahead of the gala ceremony will be shared on Globe Soccer’s social media channels. The new Globe Soccer app is available for download from the iOS App Store and Google Play by searching for “Globe Soccer”.