ABU DHABI // Before the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar the 2009 Club World Cup was staged in Abu Dhabi. Could the success of the latter have helped set the stage for the former?
"I think so," said Mohammed Khalfan al Rumaithi, president of the Football Association. "I think we left a good impression with Fifa and maybe that helped Qatar with their World Cup bid."
The UAE's own big Fifa event begins tonight at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium when the hometown side Al Wahda play Hekari United of Papua New Guinea, kick off 8pm.
It marks the second staging in Abu Dhabi of Fifa's only club tournament and pits seven sides from six continents in eight matches and runs until December 18.
Al Rumaithi said he was "very happy" when Qatar won the right to stage the 2022 World Cup. "This part of the world deserves, after 90 years of the World Cup, to have the World Cup," he said yesterday. "We have a passion for football like any other place in the world."
The Gulf has seemed to come up in nearly every serious Fifa discussion of late, and at a media event yesterday in Abu Dhabi, two members of the world governing body's executive committee talked about both Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
Jerome Valcke, the Fifa secretary general, and Chuck Blazer, the chairman of the organising committee, each defended the process that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
"I was satisfied when I left the voting room that the vote had been held democratically and the members voted their own consciences, and this was the result," Blazer said.
"Whatever people are saying now, there are two winners, Russia and Qatar," Valcke said. "And as the Fifa president [Sepp Blatter] said, in sports you should learn to win and lose. Two won, seven lost, and that's it. The decision went, and the process went, well. There is no more to add. There will be two great World Cups in these countries."
Valcke said the process, secret balloting from 22 executive committee members that some have suggested invites deal-making and corruption, could be changed in the future. But it will never impact the decisions already made.
"This is a decision that will be made in 2018, so it's in eight years time," he said. "So it means the executive committee of Fifa … has eight years to decide or not to decide on how the World Cup is awarded in the future. If we say yes, yes it needs to be changed it would be saying something went wrong."
Blazer defended the secret ballot by saying that it allows voters to avoid pressure from other governments. "It's the one way you can protect them."
Each was more interested in talking about the Club World Cup. "In 2009, it went very well and I think that's why we are so happy to come back, and you see we have good teams playing again," Valcke said.
The 2009 event was praised for its logistics, but attendance was spotty aside from the two matches in which the eventual champions Barcelona played; each attracted more than 40,000 fans.
Blazer said ticketing methods were discussed during meetings earlier in the day, and he had been assured attendance would be up this year, in part because of more efficient ticket distribution.
"It's always good to have the experience of the second year," he said. "They've had time to work on these issues, and there's nothing like time and experience to make things better."
Wahda, the hosts, are the Pro League champions. The other six sides are champions of continental federations: Inter Milan of Europe, Internacional of South America, Pachuca of North America, TP Mazembe of Africa and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma of Asia and Hekari of Oceania. The event returns to Tokyo for 2011 and 2012, but al Rumaithi said Abu Dhabi may bid for the 2013 tournament.
"We are awaiting government instruction," he said. "If the FA receives that, we will bid for 2013."
Meantime, he has high hopes for Wahda who, he said, "are representing the whole country".
"So I think they are ready. Hekari United doesn't seem to be, you know … OK, we respect that team but I think Wahda can manage to pass by that match and then go further in the tournament, with the support of the spectators and the hard work the players should put in the match for 90 minutes. I think we can congratulate each other tomorrow, inshallah."
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
The specs
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The%20specs
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'Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower'
Michael Beckley, Cornell Press
Forced%20Deportations
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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