Fabio Cannavaro: the defender who won the Ballon d'Or

Fabio Cannavaro spent two decades at the heart of defences in Naples, Parma, Milan, Turin and Madrid. In the summer of 2006 he was the captain of the Italy team that won the World Cup, and that autumn he became the first defender in ten years to win the Ballon d'Or.

His career took him from the streets of Naples to Parma, Milan, Turin and Madrid, and ended in the Gulf after a knee injury.

The numbers

The curve is a defender's: almost a straight line at the top for fifteen years. The highest bars are his two seasons at Juventus and his Parma years.

A boy from Naples

Cannavaro grew up in Naples and was scouted from a team in the Bagnoli district. At Napoli he began as a ball boy and then joined the youth side as a midfielder before being moved to centre-back. In one training session he made a hard sliding tackle on Diego Maradona, the undisputed star of the club. Maradona defended him, and reportedly gave him his boots.

He made his Serie A debut on 7 March 1993 in a 4–3 defeat at Juventus, and scored his first goal on 8 January 1995 against Milan at the San Siro. That summer, with Napoli short of money after Maradona's departure, he was sold to Parma.

Parma: Buffon, Thuram and a tight defence

At Parma he became a regular at once and met Gianluigi Buffon and Lilian Thuram, with whom he formed one of the tightest defensive units in Europe. In 1998–99 he won the UEFA Cup, his only European trophy, and the Coppa Italia. A Supercoppa Italiana against Milan came in 1999–2000, and a second Coppa Italia against Juventus in 2001–02, his last season at the club.

Turin and the Calciopoli summer

He joined Juventus from Inter on 31 August 2004, the transfer deadline day, in a deal that took the goalkeeper Fabian Carini the other way, with both players valued at €10 million. He was reunited with Thuram and Buffon, under Fabio Capello, and Juventus won the scudetto in 2005 and 2006. He was named Serie A Defender of the Year both years and, in 2006, Italian Footballer of the Year.

Both titles were later revoked. After the 2006 World Cup the Calciopoli verdicts relegated Juventus to Serie B, and since the club could not qualify for the Champions League, Cannavaro chose to leave. He followed Capello to Real Madrid for €7 million.

Real Madrid

At the Bernabéu he took the number 5 shirt, previously worn by Zinedine Zidane. He won La Liga in 2006–07 and 2007–08 and the Supercopa de España in 2008. On 19 May 2009 it was confirmed that he would return to Juventus on a free transfer, and in his last game at the Bernabéu he received a standing ovation.

The trophies

Italy: captain and wall

He played his first game for Italy in 1997. At Euro 2000 he played in the centre of a back three, usually next to Alessandro Nesta, as Italy conceded only two goals in the tournament. They led France 1–0 into injury time in the final, then lost 2–1 to a Sylvain Wiltord equaliser and a golden goal from David Trezeguet in extra time. Cannavaro was named in the team of the tournament.

He took the captain's armband from Paolo Maldini after the 2002 World Cup, where he had held the defence together almost single-handedly after Nesta was injured against Croatia, and was suspended for the round of 16 after two yellow cards. Italy went out in the second round to a golden goal against South Korea. He first captained the side on 21 August 2002 in a 1–0 defeat to Slovenia in Trieste, and was officially named captain for the Euro 2004 qualifier in Azerbaijan, which Italy won 2–0. His first goal for Italy came on 30 May 2004, in a 4–0 win over Tunisia.

Germany 2006

He captained Italy throughout the tournament under Marcello Lippi. Italy conceded only two goals, an own goal against the United States and a penalty by Zinedine Zidane in the final, and Cannavaro was at the centre of it. With Nesta injured, he played the tournament with a different partner.

In the semi-final against Germany, in the last minute of extra time, he outjumped Per Mertesacker to clear the ball, then took it off Lukas Podolski, which started the move that led to Italy's second goal in a 2–0 win. In the final in Berlin on 9 July 2006, the night of his 100th cap, Italy drew 1–1 with France and won on penalties. He lifted the trophy, and his defending earned him the nickname "Wall of Berlin".

He finished runner-up to Zidane for the Golden Ball. In the Ballon d'Or voting that November he finished well clear of the field.

"The World Cup in Germany was perfect for a defender."

— Cannavaro after winning the 2006 Ballon d'Or, as reported by the Taipei Times

He was only the third defender to win the award, after Franz Beckenbauer in 1972 and 1976 and Matthias Sammer in 1996.

The record and the end

In June 2009, in Italy's last group match of the Confederations Cup, a 3–0 defeat to Brazil, he equalled Paolo Maldini's record of 126 caps. On 12 August 2009, in a friendly against Switzerland, he won his 127th and passed it.

The 2010 World Cup was the sad end. He captained the defending champions, who drew 1–1 with New Zealand and Paraguay and lost 3–2 to Slovakia, finishing last in the group with two points. He retired from international football with 136 caps, 79 of them as captain, both second only to Buffon.

His last season as a player was at Al-Ahli in the UAE, on a two-year deal announced on 2 June 2010. He made 16 appearances before a serious knee problem forced him to retire in July 2011. He later moved into management, with spells in the UAE, China, Italy and Croatia.

Why he is remembered

Few defenders win the Ballon d'Or, and Cannavaro was only the third. He did it by captaining a World Cup-winning team that conceded two goals in seven matches. Buffon, the runner-up, said he deserved it.