UPDATE: It’s confirmed, Cannavaro is Euro Footballer Of The Year – click here.
It is not 100% official as yet but Fabio Cannavaro has been rumored to be the European Footballer of the Year after claiming the prestigious Ballon d’Or (Golden Ball) award,according to Madrid based radio station Radio Marca.
Cannavaro is deserves this as he was one of the main player in Italy‘s World Cup winning squad, he formed a solid line of defence with his fellow defenders and managed to play consistently in ever game for Italy in Germany even without his defensive partnet Allesandro Nesta who was injured.
The 33-year-old was dubbbed “the Berlin Wall” for his performances in leading the Azzurri to World Cup glory this year, despite the ‘calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal engulfing Juventus, his club at the time.
He has since followed the path of coach Fabio Capello to Real Madrid, where he has helped shore up the defence, though his performances have been less consistent than for either Juventus or Italy thus far.
Previous winners of this award:
1956 Stanley MATTHEWS (Eng)
1957 Alfredo DI STÉFANO (Spa [*])
1958 Raymond KOPA (Fra)
1959 Alfredo DI STÉFANO (Spa [*])
1960 Luis SUÃÂREZ (Spa)
1961 Omar SIVORI (Ita [*])
1962 Josef MASOPUST (Cze)
1963 Lev YASHIN (SU)
1964 Denis LAW (Sco)
1965 EUSÉBIO (Por)
1966 Bobby CHARLTON (Eng)
1967 Flórián ALBERT (Hun)
1968 George BEST (Nil)
1969 Gianni RIVERA (Ita)
1970 Gerd MÃœLLER (Ger)
1971 Johan CRUIJFF (Net)
1972 Franz BECKENBAUER (Ger)
1973 Johan CRUIJFF (Net)
1974 Johan CRUIJFF (Net)
1975 Oleg BLOKHIN (SU)
1976 Franz BECKENBAUER (Ger)
1977 Alan SIMONSEN (Den)
1978 Kevin KEEGAN (Eng)
1979 Kevin KEEGAN (Eng)
1980 Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Ger)
1981 Karl-Heinz RUMMENIGGE (Ger)
1982 Paolo ROSSI (Ita)
1983 Michel PLATINI (Fra)
1984 Michel PLATINI (Fra)
1985 Michel PLATINI (Fra)
1986 Igor BELANOV (SU)
1987 Ruud GULLIT (Net)
1988 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net)
1989 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net)
1990 Lothar MATTHÄUS (Ger)
1991 Jean-Pierre PAPIN (Fra)
1992 Marco VAN BASTEN (Net)
1993 Roberto BAGGIO (Ita)
1994 Hristo STOITCHKOV (Bul)
1995 George WEAH (Lib)
1996 Matthias SAMMER (Ger)
1997 RONALDO (Bra)
1998 Zinedine ZIDANE (Fra)
1999 RIVALDO (Bra)
2000 Luis FIGO (Por)
2001 Michael OWEN (Eng)
2002 RONALDO (Bra)
2003 Pavel NEDVED (Cze)
2004 Andriy SHEVCHENKO (Ukr)
2005 RONALDINHO (Bra)
