Cannavaro named FIFA World Player of the Year

Cannavaro named FIFA World Player of the Year

ZURICH, Switzerland (Ticker) - Fabio Cannavaro capped off an impressive year Monday with yet another award.

The Italian star was proud to become the first defender to be named FIFA World Player of the Year after collecting the award at the annual gala ceremony in Zurich.

The accolade caps off an outstanding year for the Italy and Real Madrid centre-half, who captained his country to World Cup glory this summer and was presented with the Ballon D'Or for winning the European Footballer of the Year award in November.

He would have been able to add a Serie A winner's medal to his haul if not for the Italian match-fixing scandal, which saw his former club Juventus stripped of their title and relegated to Serie B.

Cannavaro, 33, received 498 votes from the panel of 165 international coaches and 165 international captains. Retired France international Zinedine Zidane finished second with 454 while Brazil and Barcelona forward Ronaldinho was third with 380.

"It is unusual for a defender to be sitting alongside Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane, who do marvellous things all season, so I saw it as a victory just to be here," Cannavaro said. "I think I have been very lucky this year because we won the World Cup and perhaps this has been very helpful for me to make it here tonight. "The competition was scary, it was so strong. After winning the World Cup and the European Footballer of the Year award, I do not think I could ask for anything more," Cannavaro said.

via Yahoo news