By Siegfried Mortkowitz Nov 27, 2006, 19:11 GMT
Paris - Fabio Cannavaro, who rose from World Cup ballboy to World Cup-winning captain, was on Monday named European Footballer of the Year.
Italian soccer player Fabio Cannavaro poses during a press conference in Issy-les-Moulineaux, close to Paris, on Monday 27 November 2006. The 33-year old defender of Real Madrid and captain of the Italien national soccer team was awarded by the french soccer magazine 'France Football' with the Ballon d'Or (Golden Football) as best european player of the year. EPA/OLIVER WEIKEN
The 33-year-old Cannavaro, who lifted Italy's fourth World Cup trophy on July 9 in Berlin after the team beat France on penalties, received the Ballon d'Or award at a ceremony in Paris.
He beat fellow-Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Frenchman Thierry Henry in the 51st edition of the poll conducted by French magazine France Football among 52 football journalists (one for each member federation of UEFA).
The diminutive Cannavaro was delighted with the honour, telling a French television audience, 'I am very moved because as a defender, this award has a double meaning.'
Cannavaro said that he is the first pure defender to win the award as Germans Matthias Sammer, who won it 10 years ago, and Franz Beckenbauer, twice winner in the 1970s, displayed their skills also as classy midfield playmakers.
He also recalled all the highlights of his past year, including taking the World Cup and moving on to Real Madrid, which he called one of the great teams in the world.
'This has really been a golden year for me,' he said, referring to the name of the award, which translates into 'the Golden Ball' in English.
In the balloting, Cannavaro received 173 points, well ahead of Buffon's 124 and Henry's 121. Last year's Ballon d'Or winner, Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho, placed fourth in the balloting, with 73 points.
Cannavaro is the fifth Italian, and the sixth player from Real Madrid, to win the honour.
Previous Italian footballers to win the award are Omar Sivori (who also had Argentinian citizenship) in 1961, Gianni Rivera in 1969, Paolo Rossi in 1982 and Roberto Baggio in 1993.
Cannavaro, who left relegated Juventus Turin for Real Madrid in summer, was a ballboy at the 1990 World Cup semi-final between Italy and Argentina in his hometown Naples.
Legend has it that the then 16-year-old said after Italy's painful defeat in that game that 'I want to become a football player and World Cup winner.'
He started his career at Napoli (1992-1995) and after a stint at Parma (2002-2004) moved on to Juventus before his summer transfer to Real once Juve were relegated over a match fixing scheme.
Cannavaro, a short but powerful centre back, has been said to possess the old-style defence skills typical of Italy's game based on solid and ruthless defence packages coupled with fast, opportunistic strikers.
'It is indicative that Italy have a keeper and a defender (vying for the award),' wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport commentator Ilaria D'Amico.
'We have had also the best strikers, but cliches are hard to beat, particularly if the World Cup was won through the physical Italianness of a group whose leader was no doubt Cannavaro.'
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