For a few years now, Dubai has hosted a kind of get-together for the football world that's part conference, part awards gala...

Although many see him as an aloof individual with a short fuse, in this instance Luis Rubiales has shown that he has a smooth touch, one that former Italian PM Mario Andreotti claimed was perennially lacking in Spanish politics.

Cristiano Ronaldo is unique. Yesterday the striker was honoured with his fifth Globe Soccer award in Dubai,