But Tuesday a gala prize-giving at the Emirates Palace Hotel here in Abu Dhabi will at least be marking a venture whose positive theme is the continued expansion of domination of the world sports scene.

The pan-Arab soccer weekly Super, for the first time, is honouring its choices for the top players in Asia, Africa and among the Arabian nations not merely with words and trinkets but with US$100,000 apiece.

The awards are sponsored by Sheikh Hazaa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, and credibility has been sought by the choice of Italy’s former World Cup Final referee Pierluigi Collina as president of the board of trustees.

Clearly the awards project is not merely a vehicle to promote the magazine but a “a distinct and unique part of an ambitious project to consolidate Abu Dhabi in the global sports arena."

Ten finalists have been shortlisted in each category. Each of the game’s awards has its own system. FIFA looks to vots from the world’s national coaches and captains, for the European Footballer of the Year award France Football looks only to a select panel of football journalists and London’s World Soccer magazine mixes the opinions of writers and readers.

Super has refined the process to suit its own constituency with the voting being split 40pc for experts and coaches, 40pc for media, 10pc for national team captains and 10pc for fans.

Official candidates for the African player award number 24. Favourites include Mahamadou Diarra, Frederic Kanoute, Amr Zaki, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor and Mohammed Abu Trika but so have lesser-known names such as Gambia’s Ousman Jallow, who plays for Danish side Brøndby IF. The Sierra Leone captain, Ibrahim Kargbo, who plays for the Dutch team Willem II Tilburg, was also nominated. Surprisingly, no players from Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria were nominated.

The 43-strong Asian slate includes intriguing selections such as Ali Ishfaq from the Maldives, India’s Baichung Bhutia and the Thai striker, Nantawat Thansopa. More renowned names include the South Korean and Manchester United winger Park Ji Sung, Japan playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura, Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Alqahtani and Iraq’s Nashaat Akram.

The Arabian 26 includes footballers from 13 countries led by the likes of Mohamed Aboutrika, Amr Zaki, Yasser Al-Qahtani, Hussein Abdulghani and Marouane Chamakh.

The full lists

Asia (43): Mohammed Nour , Abdoh Otaif, Saad Al-Harthi, Yasser Al-Qahtani, Hussein Abdulghani (Saudi Arabia), Mehdi Mahdavikia, Gholamreza Rezaei, Javad Nekounam, Ali Karami, Ebrahim Sadeghi (Iran), Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhito Endo, Shunsuke Nakamura, Shinji Kagawa, Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Japan), Noor Sabri, Nashat Akram, Hawar Mulla Mohammed, Mahdi Karim, Younis Mahmoud (Iraq), Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Tim Cahill, Travis Dodd (Australia), Odil Ahmedov, Server Djeparov, Maksim Shatskikh, Jasur Hasanov (Uzbekistan), Park Ji-Sung, Kim Do-Heon (South Korea), Hong Yong-Jo, Jong Tae-Se (Korea DPR),Ismail Matar (UAE), Alaa Hebeel (Bahrain), Baichung Bhutia (India), Nantawat Thansopa (Tailand), Ali Al Habsi (Oman), Sebastián Soria (Qatar), Ali Ishfaq (Maldives), Ahmed Ajab (Kuwait), Khurshed Makhmudov (Tajikistan), Bambang Pamungkas (Indonesia), and Vu Nhu Thanh (Vietnam).

Africa (24) : Mahamadou Diarra, Seydou Keita, Frederic Kanoute, Mohamed Sissoko ( Mali), Mohamed Aboutrika, Amr Zaki, Essam El-Hadary (Egypt), Obafemi Martins, Steven Warjo, John Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Michael Essien, Sulley Ali Muntari, Junior Agogo (Ghana), Didier Drogba, Solomon Kalou (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Younes Al Shibane (Libya), Stephane Sessegnon (Benin), Faisal Al-ajab, Haitham Mustafa (Sudan), Ibrahim Kargbo (Sierra Leonean), Tresor Mputu (Congo DR), Ousman Jallow (Gambia).

Arabia (26) : Mohamed Aboutrika, Amr Zaki, Essam El-Hadary, Hosny Abdrab Ahmed Hassan (Egypt), Mohammed Nour, Mohamed Al-Deayea, Yasser Al-Qahtani, Hussein Abdulghani (Saudi Arabia), Marouane Chamakh, Hicham Aboucherouane, Tarik Sektioui, Soufiane Alloudi (Morocco), Ismail Matar (UAE), Alaa Hebeel and Mahmoud Abdulrahman(Bahrain), Khalfan Ibrahim, Sebastián Soria (Qatar), Ahmed Ajab(Kuwait), Ali Al Habsi (Oman), Nashat Akram, Hawar Mulla Mohammed (Iraq), Tarik El Tayeb (Libya), Rafiq Saife (Algeria), Amine Chermiti (Tunisia), Faisal Al-ajab (Sudan).