Warner gets UAE government award

CONCACAF president Jack Austin Warner will be honoured by the government of the United Arab Emirates preceding the FIFA World Youth Championship final between Spain and Brazil, in Abu Dhabi, today.

And Warner, chairman of the FIFA Youth Committee is anticipating a keenly contested and exciting final. On receiving the award, Warner expressed gratitude to the UAE government and the Local Organising Committee as well as other members of the FIFA Youth Committee for ensuring that the championship has been a successful one.

The award is being presented to Warner as a form of recognition for his efforts in the staging of the tournament in the UAE. “I accept the award with a deep sense of humility and I am happy that the government of the United Arab Emirates has appreciated the work that I have done in conducting one of the most successful FIFA World Youth Championships ever staged,” said Warner, who will be receiving his sixth award from governments having done so from other countries including Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea and Cayman Islands.

He was also pleased about the fact that both Brazil and Spain will be clashing in the final for the second successive time. “I am the only chairman of a FIFA youth committee in its 100-year history to have had the same two teams in a final in its two youth competitions. “The same teams contested the final of the Under-17 Championships in Finland, which Brazil won 2-1, and the same teams will meet again tomorrow  in which Brazil shall win again by a 2-1 scoreline,” Warner said yesterday.