SOCCER:Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro added another trophy to his haul yesterday when he was named Fifa World Player of the Year.
The 33-year-old Real Madrid defender beat off competition from Barcelona's Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho and retired former France skipper Zinedine Zidane in a vote by national team coaches and captains.
Cannavaro, the first defender to win the trophy in its 16-year history, adds the honour to the prestigious European Footballer of the Year award he received from France Football magazine last month.
"The competition was scary, it was so strong," said Cannavaro at the awards ceremony inside Zurich's opera house. "After winning the World Cup and the European Footballer of the Year award too, I do not think I can ask for anything else. It is not usual for a defender to be sitting alongside Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane, who get to do marvellous things all season, so I saw it as a victory just to be here."
Cannavaro paid tribute to Zidane, his predecessor in the number five shirt at Real and a controversial choice on the award shortlist following his red card in the World Cup final in Berlin.
"When I first came to Real everybody asked me what it meant to be wearing the same shirt," said the Italian. "I can only say now what I said then, it is an honour to wear the same number as such a great player."
Like Zidane, Cannavaro has been involved in controversy this year, not least when he helped Juventus win a second successive Serie A title only for the club to be stripped of the crown and relegated following a probe into alleged match-fixing.
FIFA's World Player of the Year Winners
1991 Lothar Matthaeus (Ger) ... Inter Milan
1992 Marco van Basten (Net) ... AC Milan
1993 Roberto Baggio (Ita) ... Juventus
1994 Romario (Bra) ... Barcelona
1995 George Weah (Lib) ... AC Milan
1996 Ronaldo (Bra) ... Barcelona
1997 Ronaldo (Bra) ... Inter Milan
1998 Zinedine Zidane (Fra) ... Juventus
1999 Rivaldo (Bra) ... Barcelona
2000 Zinedine Zidane (Fra) ... Juventus
2001 Luis Figo (Por) ... Real Madrid
2002 Ronaldo (Bra) ... Real Madrid
2003 Zinedine Zidane (Fra) ... Real Madrid
2004 Ronaldinho (Brazil) ... Barcelona
2005 Ronaldinho (Bra) ... Barcelona
2006 Fabio Cannavaro (Ita) ... Real Madrid
