The Hindu : Sport / Football : Cannavaro named FIFA World Player of the Year

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Wednesday, Dec 20, 2006
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Cannavaro named FIFA World Player of the Year

ZURICH: Fabio Cannavaro added another accolade to his collection on Monday, winning FIFA's `World Player of the Year' award.

The 33-year-old defender, who led Italy to the World Cup title and was voted the best player in Europe, won with 498 points.

Zinedine Zidane, who took the World Cup's top player award despite receiving a red card in the final for head-butting Marco Materazzi in extra time, was second with 454 points. Ronaldinho was third with 380 points.

"I would like to dedicate this award to Italian football," Cannavaro said. "Everyone knows that we have had problems, and this should be a moment of rebirth for Italian football."

Cannavaro is only the second Italian to win the FIFA award — Roberto Baggio took it in 1993.

Marta of Brazil captured the women's award with 475 points, finishing ahead of Kristine Lilly of the United States (388) and Renate Lingor of Germany (305).

Earlier, FIFA honoured Brazil as the best team for the fifth year in a row. Italy was second, followed by Argentina.

Other honours awarded on Monday included the Fair Play prize, which went to the fans of this year's World Cup in Germany; the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper to Italy's Gianluigi Buffon; and the FIFA President's Award to former Internazionale legend Giacinto Facchetti, who died in September.

In Zidane's shirt!

Cannavaro is regarded as one of the best centre-backs in the game. In August, he took over Zidane's No. 5 shirt at Real Madrid after leaving Juventus following their demotion to the second division because of Italy's match-fixing scandal.

Before moving to Juventus, Cannavaro spent seven years with Parma, where he won the UEFA Cup, and two seasons with Inter Milan.

Zidane, who has won the FIFA award three times, retired from soccer after playing for France in the World Cup final. The 34-year-old midfielder won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship with France, plus several league and European titles with Juventus and Real Madrid.

Asked whether he had finally made peace with Materazzi over the World Cup incident, Zidane said "I don't know him," but that he was on good terms with "all Italians."

Misses hat-trick

Ronaldinho missed out on a hat-trick of player of the year awards. The Brazil playmaker won the title in 2004 and 2005, and another victory would have put him equal with Zidane and Ronaldo for the most awards since its creation in 1991.

But the 26-year-old's disappointing World Cup performance overshadowed his success with FC Barcelona in the Spanish league and the European Champions League.

"There are good moments in life, and less good moments. And we had less good moments in some competitions (this year)," Ronaldinho said. — AP

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