Fabio Cannavaro - from ballboy to World Footballer

Dec 18, 2006, 22:19 GMT

Zurich - The World Footballer of the Year award is the icing on the cake for Fabio Cannavaro, who captained Italy to the World Cup title in July after seeing them lose in the 1990 semi-finals as a ballboy in Naples.

The award is even more precious for Cannavaro as he becomes the first defender to win the prestigious award, which will excite him as much as his southern Italian hometown.

When the 33-year-old won the European Footballer award three weeks ago, he dedicated it 'to Naples, in a difficult moment, and to its youth. They must believe in dreams.'

Cannavaro has seemingly done exactly that.

Legend has it that a 16-year-old Cannavaro said after witnessing Italy's semi-final defeat against Argentina in 1990 that 'I want to become a football player and World Cup winner.'

Another story says that Cannavaro in his youth team days did not shy away from a sliding tackle against the mighty Diego Maradona, who had God-like status at Napoli after steering them to their first ever Serie A title in 1987, the year after becoming World Cup-winning captain for Argentina.

'Good, you're doing well,' Maradona reportedly told the teenager.

Cannavaro emulated Maradona's feat with Argentina in 1986 by captaining Italy to World Cup glory 10 years later, and on Monday even surpassed him with the World Footballer honour, an award which was not introduced until 1991, after Maradona's glory days.

Cannavaro made his professional debut with Napoli in March 1993 and played a total 394 Serie A games before a summer move from relegated Juventus to Spanish giants Real Madrid. His other Italian clubs were Parma and Inter Milan.

'Real Madrid is the team in which every footballer would like to play at least once in his life. At this point of my career this was probably my last chance, I could not refuse,' he said after taking over the club's number 5 jersey from retired Zidane.

Some took offence that he was recently voted European Footballer of the Year ahead over Ronaldinho and the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry.

But on Monday he will have felt the same way as at the honour from three weeks ago.

'What am I doing here?' he wondered when thinking about the 50 previous European award winners. 'Then I realised that many of those stars never lifted a World Cup to the sky. Well, I did it.'