Bangkok--14 Dec--Total Quality PR ESPN STAR SPORTS BRINGS FOOTBALL’S ‘OSCARS’ TO AUDIENCES ACROSS ASIA Asia’s No. 1 Sports Broadcaster to show FIFA World Player Gala 2007 ‘LIVE’ For the first time, fans in Asia will be able to witness the crowning of this year’s FIFA World Player 2007 ‘live’, as football’s glitziest event will be shown on Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 0300HKT on ESPN (Ch.39, 65 / True Visions), Asia’s No. 1 sports broadcaster and content provider, directly from Zurich's world-famous Opera House. The hour-long event will be shown live across Asia including key markets Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, India, 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 teams around the world, the final contenders for this year’s FIFA World Player 2007 title are are Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Kaka (Brazil) and Lionel Messi (Argentina). Brazilian duo Cristiane and Marta will contest the FIFA Women's World Player 2007 award with Germany's Birgit Prinz. Ronaldo, Kaka and Messi will all be looking to claim a FIFA World Player crown on their first attempt - and Kaka will be hoping to make it a brace following his 2007 Ballon d’Or award. Marta (2006) and Birgit Prinz (2003, 2004, 2005) have already won the prestigious award so Cristiane will be hoping that beginner’s luck will serve her well this year. In addition to the customary FIFA Presidential Award and FIFA Fair Play Award, the 17th FIFA World Player Gala will also honour 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 Ag?ero) and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2007 (Brazil's Buru). FIFA World Player 2007 Repeat telecasts on ESPN (All times stated are local) Malaysia 19 Dec, 7.30PM Hong Kong 18 Dec, 1PM 18 Dec, 10.30PM Singapore, Brunei,Macau 18 Dec, 8PM 19 Dec 7.30PM China 18 Dec, 8PM 19 Dec, 1PM Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam,Myanmar, Laos Cambodia 18 Dec, 7PM 19 Dec 6.30PM South Korea 18 Dec, 9PM 19 Dec 8.30PM India 18 Dec, 8PM Taiwan (STAR Sports) 19 Dec, 12midnight About ESPN STAR Sports ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world’s leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies — Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) — to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services. ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports Southeast Asia, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket. On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile is a lifestyle product that gives fans a “feel-good experience”; delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports programmes covering opinions, how-tos, gossip and latest game reviews. For more information, please contact: Tom Van Blarcom / Ruthaiwan Tanwongwan Total Quality PR (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Tel: +66 (0) 2260 5820 Email: [email protected]