Dubai Sports Council, Dubai Police to host webinar on stadium security
Some of the global experts of the subject will speak at the webinar, to be hosted by Dubai Police & Dubai Sports Council, on Thursday. Image Credit: Supplied photo
Dubai, TGO: Dubai Sports Council and Dubai Police’s General Department of Organization Protective Security & Emergency will host a webinar on ‘International Best Practices for Stadium Security’ on Thursday (February 10).
The webinar will see some of the world’s top experts on spectator safety and stadium security share their expertise with an audience that is expected to include top officials from Dubai Sports Council and Dubai Police, as well as officials of different football companies and clubs, club security and licensing officers, and media and fan representatives.
The opening session, scheduled to start at 6 pm UAE time, will feature Antonio Talarico, Head of Match Operations, Events, Infrastructure, Integrity and Security Office at the Italian Football Federation, FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio), and Francesco Davalli, co-founder of international sports law firm, Sportlaw, and partner at Italian firm Safety Ecotechnic, which specialises in safety and hygiene at work.
Talarico is a former Head of the Italian Federation’s Club Licensing Department, and also served as the security head of the Italian national team at the 2020 Uefa European Championships as well as the Uefa Nations League finals. He and Davalli will discuss “Security Procedures in Continental Competitions”.
The second session will see Florentino Villabona Madera, Director of Integrity and Safety for Spanish La Liga since June 2018, talk about the “Criteria of Stadium Security in the Club Licensing System”. A former Chief Inspector and Commissioner with the Spanish National Police Corps, Villabona Madera has also served as the General Commissioner for Citizen Security.
The third session – titled “Modern Technologies in Securing Sports Facilities and Match Day” – will feature Mustapha ABBA-SANY, President of the France-based Organization of Event Security Professionals (OPSE) and Chairman of Gest’n SPORT, a firm specialising in event security that has been involved in events like the 1998 Fifa World Cup in France and the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup, the 2016 Uefa European Championship, the 2000 and 2006 Uefa Champions League Final, as well as top events like the 2003 World Athletics Championships, the 2007 IRB Rugby World Cup, and 2017 and 2018 Davis Cup.
Dr Stacey A Hall, Executive Director of the United States’ National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4), will give a presentation on the ‘Programs and Services’ of NCS4 in the closing session of the evening. Dr Hall is an expert on sport safety and security management, and has been published in leading international sport management, homeland security, and emergency management journals. She has co-authored two textbooks – Sport Facility Operations Management and Security Management for Sports and Special Events.
