On September 13, 1973, exactly 50 years ago today, a little boy was born who, many years later, would mature into one of the best footballers of all time.
Fabio Cannavaro enjoys legendary status not only in his native Italy. The defensive specialist has also made an impression abroad – and crowned his career in 2006 with an award that is still unique today. But what is the Italian world star actually doing today?
Professional debut with his favorite club
Cannavaro was born in the southern Italian metropolis of Naples, where he then grew up with his family. As a teenager, he moved from his youth club Bagnoli to the big SSC Napoli – his favorite club, where he was initially able to see his idol Diego Maradona up close as a ball boy.
At the age of 19, Cannavaro finally celebrated his professional debut for Naples and made his debut in a 3-4 defeat against Juventus in Serie A. The Italian quickly played his way into the first eleven and made 68 competitive appearances in three seasons. In 1995, however, he left his hometown and joined AC Parma, with whom he played his most successful season to date in the 1998/99 season.
Together with teammates like Gianluigi Buffon and Lilian Thuram, he won the Italian Cup twice in Parma and the UEFA Cup (predecessor competition to the Europa League, editor’s note) in 1999, before taking the next step to Inter Milan three years later as a seasoned leading player to go.
The Milanese paid 11.5 million euros for the services of Cannavaro, who was now an established Italian international player. However, it was never enough to achieve great success in the fashion metropolis; more than a runner-up finish and a place in the Champions League semi-finals were not achieved.
World Footballer of the Year 2006
At the age of 31, Cannavaro joined Juventus in 2004 – a landmark decision, as it would later turn out. With the Old Lady he won the Italian championship in both 2005 and 2006 – which was revoked years later due to massive manipulation. Cannavaro would never win Serie A in his career – a blemish on his impressive career.
In 2006, he achieved what no defender had ever achieved before or after him: Cannavaro won the World Cup in Germany as captain of the Squadra Azzurra – and was therefore awarded the titles “Europe’s Footballer of the Year” and “FIFA -World Footballer” award. Never before and not since then should a defender ever become a world footballer.
As a newly crowned world champion, the then 33-year-old then joined Real Madrid, where he won the Spanish championship in 2007 and 2008. After a one-year return to Juventus Turin, Cannavaro ended his impressive career at Al-Ahli Dubai on July 9, 2011. He made 531 league appearances across clubs and was also denied the Champions League title.
Only Buffon collects more international caps
With the Italian national team, Cannavaro took part in a total of four World Cup finals (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010) and therefore made an impressive 136 international appearances. Until September 2013 he was also Italy’s record international player, before Gianluigi Buffon overtook him (today the undisputed top figure with 175 international matches, editor’s note).
After his playing career, Cannavaro pursued a career as a coach and initially remained active in Asia. The Italian left his footsteps especially in China, coaching the top Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande and Tianjin Quanjian as well as the Chinese national team.
In September 2022, the world footballer joined the Italian second division club Benevento Calcio, where he was released in February of this year after just four months.
2023-09-13 18:37:32
#Fabio #Cannavaro #legend
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