Amidst ragging speculations the very subdued Italy’s World Cup winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro has been named the European Footballer of the Year (Ballon dOr) - the Real Madrid defender finished ahead of the international teammate Gianluigi Buffon, French and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, Brazil and Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho and (now retired) Zinedine Zidane. Cannavaro has become the third defender - after Matthias Sammer in (1996) and Franz Beckenbauer in (1972&1976), to win the award that is usually given to strikers and midfielders.
The 33-yer-old Cannavaro, is undoubtedly a small package with diverse ability, he faced criticism for moving to Real Madrid this season after his former club Juventus was relegated to the second League from the Italian Serie A... Cannavaro won the recognition purely for his impeccable World Cup performance (though his performance with Juve’s last season was below par to his capabilities) and has become the only pure defender to claim the Honor, while Sammer and Beckenbauer featured as midfielders too.
The polling for the prestigious award was carried out by French magazine, France Football along with 52 football journalists one for each member federation of UEFA, Cannavaro succeeded Ronaldinho after he received 173 points while Buffon with 124 and Thierry Henry with 121. Having won the European award the next on mind for the defender will be FIFA player of the Year award to be announced in December - and for those who follow this tiny yet dominant force of the Madrid defense will surely comprehend that.
