New honour for Cannavaro

Fabio Cannavaro once again beat Zidane and Ronaldinho to take the coveted FIFA World player award in addition to the European Footballer of the Year crown he was awarded three weeks ago. As this honour is voted for by national coaches and captains, he can argue that this should silence those who criticised giving the best player of the year award to a defender. He has now been recognised by both his peers and by journalists from around Europe.

In a separate interview, Raúl, who will be in Zurich for the awards ceremony as captain of Spain (even though he has not been named in the squad for the last three games) to pick up the FIFA 'Fair Play' award for the last World Cup said that he had voted for Cannavaro because "he had a great World Cup and has played his heart out for Juventus and Real Madrid. He's the right choice and I am happy for him. He's a great teammate".