Fifpro World XI Player Awards

1st September 2005
LONDON TO HOST GLITTERING FOOTBALL AWARDS
John Terry, Luis Boa Morte and Gordon Taylor launch the first ever peer-voted football awards – FIFPro World XI Player Awards

The best eleven footballers on the planet are to be honoured by their peers in the most prestigious and glittering football awards ever staged in the inaugural FIFPro World XI Player Awards to be held in London on 19th September 2005.

The awards evening will be interspersed with spectacular performances from the world’s hottest music acts and hosted by a number of international celebrity guest presenters.

The show, to be broadcast to a worldwide audience of over 300 million viewers, will entertain fans around the world and give them the chance to celebrate the players’ achievements.

In April the 38,000 professional footballers belonging to the 40 professional organisations across the world that form FIFPro (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballers Professionnels) will vote for their ‘super team’ - choosing the four defenders, four midfielders, two forwards and one goalkeeper they most admire. There will also be three further awards presented at the awards evening – the World XI Player of the Year awarded to whoever in the World XI receives the most votes, the World XI Legend award voted for by the FIFPro Awards Committee and the Young Player of the Year voted for by fans across the globe in the only public voting category of the awards.

Gordon Taylor, President of FIFPro, said “There are no greater footballing critics than the players themselves. To be recognised by your fellow professionals from across the world will be a unique honour - what other football awards has 38,000 players deciding the winners? As professionals they know what it takes to reach the very top of the world game and as the world players’ body it is only right that we give recognition to this talent”.

John Terry, Luis Boa Morte and Gordon Taylor today unveiled the trophy to be awarded to the FIFPro World XI winners. The 12 inch tall trophy, finished in silver and gold, is made of 11 vertical spines signifying the world team and the 5 continents. The FIFPro football logo design is visible when viewed from above.

The FIFPro World XI Player Awards will be produced by Celador Music & Events (a subsidiary of Celador International), following an agreement in October 2004 with RAM Investment Group PLC to acquire the production rights to the event. Celador’s production team includes some of the most experienced and respected names in live television entertainment, and promises to deliver a visually stunning show using pioneering and state-of-the-art production techniques.

Celador International acquired the commercial, television production and staging rights for the FIFPro World XI Player Awards from RAM Media Limited, an AIM listed Investment Company that focuses on investment opportunities in the leisure and media sector. RAM, in partnership with FIFPRO, holds the exclusive rights to exploit, in all media, broadcast, production, promotion and commercial sales opportunities including sponsorship, merchandising, licensing, SMS and all telephone and other exploration rights.

Adrian Woolfe, Managing Director of Celador International, said: “Our aim, together with FIFPRO and RAM, is to create a truly unique event that brings together the very highest calibre of internationally renowned personalities from the worlds of entertainment and the greatest international football talent. We’re confident the FIFPRO World XI Player Awards will become one of the most highly anticipated global events in the annual awards calendar.”

The FIFPro World XI Player Awards represents what many commercial brands will consider as a truly compelling proposition – the marriage of football and music in a truly global entertainment event. The event concept has been extremely well received all over the world and a number of broadcast deals are already in place. We anticipate the FIFPro World XI Player Awards becoming the highlight of the football awards calendar.”

For more information, photography & footage please contact:
justin.crosby@taylorherring.com
Photography available upon request