Cannavaro wins world player of the year award
| World Player of the Year 2006 Fabio Cannavaro of Italy shows his trophy during the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich Dec. 18, 2006. |
| Dec. 19 - Italy's World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro was named the FIFA World Player of the Year, beating playmakers Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho to become the first defender to win the award.
Cannavaro received the award at glittering gala evening in Zurich, after gaining 498 votes in the poll of national team coaches and captains. "For me it's a great honour for me to be here, because it has been an incredible season and one of great satisfaction," said the 33 year-old Neapolitan, who also won the "Golden Ball" award as European Player of the Year last month. "The competition is scary, so strong. It's not usual for a defender to sit between Ronaldinho and Zidane," he added shortly before the award ceremony. "Of course it must be a great compliment for the coaches I've had this year. It also underscores the way I am playing -- and look at the matches we are playing in the teams I've had, and at Real. "I can't ask for anything else, with the World Cup and Golden Ball award - you can't do any better than that," said Cannavaro, who moved from Juventus to the Spanish club this year. The central defender dedicated his win to Italian football in the wake of the match fixing scandal that saw his ex-club Juventus relegated. "Everyone knows the problems that were around before the World Cup, but this is a sign of renaissance," Cannavaro said. France's retired three-time World Player winner Zidane, who finished his career in controversy after being sent off in the World Cup final against Italy, was second with 454 votes. Zidane said the award to his rival on the field and successor in the Real number 5 shirt was merited. "It's logical. I think things have gone well, it's normal that he should have won," he told journalists afterwards. Zidane also hinted that his career in football was not over. "I don't think this is the last one," he said of the FIFA annual gala. "As a player yes. But I think there will be something else." Brazil and Barcelona's 2004 and 2005 winner Ronaldinho failed to win an unprecedented three titles in a row and was third with 380 votes. Cannavaro, who marshalled Italy's steadfast defence in Germany this summer, was the first defender to carry away the world player of the year award, which has been the preserve of strikers and midfielders since 1990. "It is more difficult for a defender to come this far, because you have Zidane and Ronaldinho who do all these wonderful things," he told reporters. Only fellow Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos (1997) and Italian Paolo Maldini (1995) have come close before as runners-up. Cannavaro kicked off his career in a suburb of Naples, learning the game by marshalling defences in fiercely contested street games between children. He later became a ball boy at the city's San Paolo stadium while Diego Maradona played there, before making his debut for the local club in Serie A in 1993 against Juventus. Two years later he moved to Parma alongside French defender Lilian Thuram, gaining his first taste of success to lift the Italian Cup, a UEFA Cup title and make his debut for Italy in 1997. After a passage with Inter Milan, Cannavaro made a comeback from a broken tibia by joining Juventus in 2004. As well as winning the World Cup this year, Cannavaro won the Serie A with the Turin side in 2004/05 and 2005/06 before it was stripped of those titles and demoted to the second division in a match fixing scandal this year.
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