ESS to Debut Live FIFA Awards Gala in Asia

SINGAPORE, December 17: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will present
a live telecast of the FIFA World Player 2007 awards gala across
Asia tomorrow.

For the first time, the hour-long event will be shown live
across Asia from the Opera House in Zurich, airing in markets like Malaysia,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Philippines, South Korea, India and
Thailand as well as Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Myanmar, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Following a poll
of the coaches and captains of men's and women's national soccer teams around
the world, the final contenders for this
year’s FIFA World Player 2007 title are Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, Kaka from Brazil and Lionel Messi from
Argentina.

In addition to
the customary FIFA Presidential Award and FIFA Fair Play Award, the 17th FIFA
World Player Gala will also honor the best players of the FIFA U-17 World Cup
Korea 2007 (Germany's Toni Kroos), the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007
(Argentina's Sergio Agüero) and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro
2007 (Brazil's Buru).

—By Irene
Lew