Translated material
Diamonds for gold
Fabio Cannavaro received another precious ball from FIFA
Defender of the Italian national team and Real Madrid Fabio Cannavaro has collected a full collection of prizes for this year. After winning the World Cup with the national team and the Golden Ball, which he recently received from France Football as the best footballer in Europe, Cannavaro was recognized by FIFA as the best player in the world. But the Italian liked the “Golden Ball” more - it was handed over with a kiss by Monica Bellucci, while the “Diamond Ball” from FIFA was handed over to Cannavaro only by the President of the International Football Federation, Sepp Blatter.“Well, of course, Monica and Signor Blatter bear little resemblance to each other. But I'm grateful to both of them. The main thing is to be on the podium, so both then and now I am happy,” the main hero of the occasion traditionally thanked the organizers of the evening. He has something to be proud of: FIFA determines the best player based on surveys of coaches and captains of 165 national teams, which means Cannavaro has received recognition from his colleagues and the best specialists in the world. However, not all of them voted for the Italian. For example, the head coach of the Russian national team, Guus Hiddink, and the captain of our team, Evgeniy Aldonin, did not name the defender in their questionnaires. Hiddink's top three players looked like this: Zidane, Buffon, Lahm. Aldonin chose a more attacking option: Zidane, Ronaldinho, Drogba.
This did not stop Fabio Cannavaro from scoring 498 points, however. Zinedine Zidane came second in this poll (454 points). Ronaldinho, for whom the Spanish press actively predicted a third such title in a row, remained only in third place. The top ten also included Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba, Kaká, Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It's been a fantastic year - never before have luck been on my side as much as it is now. I hope my coaches, Marcello Lippi, with whom we won the World Cup, and Fabio Capello, for whom I have the honor of playing at Real Madrid, will also be happy about this prize. There is nothing more to wish for, it is simply impossible to achieve more,” Cannavaro did not hide his joy. Indeed, no defender has been able to collect such a collection of individual prizes. Now Fabio Cannavaro can regret the absence of only two awards - the prize for the best football player of the World Cup and the gold medal of the Italian championship.
Moreover, the Italian could have received them too: the Golden Ball was awarded to the best player of the World Cup, Zidane, even before that historic final, where he was sent off for head-butting Materazzi in the stomach, and Juventus was deprived of victory in the Italian championship as a result of a high-profile corruption scandal, which flared up just during the World Cup. “It was a difficult time. All the teams calmly prepared for the matches, but the investigators did not leave us alone, even in Germany. But our victory and all these titles are all the more valuable,” Cannavaro recalled the past.
Besides him, there were other FIFA laureates at the gala evening. The Brazilian Marta was recognized as the best football player in the world, ahead of the American Christine Lilly and Renata Lingor from the German national team. Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon received the Lev Yashin Prize, which is awarded to the best goalkeeper in the world. And the fair play prize went to the teams of Brazil and Spain. The Golden Boot, which is awarded to the top scorer, was awarded to German Miroslav Klose.
All the best players in the world according to FIFA:
| 1992 | Marco Van Basten | Holland |
| 1993 | Roberto Baggio | Italy |
| 1994 | Romario | Brazil |
| 1995 | George Weah | Liberia |
| 1996 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 1997 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 1998 | Zinedine Zidane | France |
| 1999 | Rivaldo | Brazil |
| 2000 | Zinedine Zidane | France |
| 2001 | Luis Figo | Portugal |
| 2002 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
| 2003 | Zinedine Zidane | France |
| 2004 | Ronaldinho | Brazil |
| 2005 | Ronaldinho | Brazil |
| 2006 | Fabio Cannavaro | Italy |