Fabio Cannavaro, who celebrates his 53rd birthday this Sunday, is one of only three defenders elected Ballon d’Or in history with the illustrious Franz Beckenbauer (1972 and 1976) and Matthias Sammer (1996). Crowned in November 2006, four months after the 2006 World Cup won by Italy against the French team on penalties (1-1, tab: 5-3), “the new Berlin Wall” beat his Nazionale teammate Gianluigi Buffon and Thierry Henry. He is therefore the last defender to have obtained the reward created by France Football and could stay that way for a while.
The day after his Ballon d’Or, Cannavaro was not celebrated by Italy, far from it. The scandals surrounding the Neapolitan have directly resurfaced in the transalpine media. As reported The World at the time, Paolo Ziliani, journalist on the Canale 5 channel, retained the “moral factor” from the 33-year-old hitchhiker: “We are proud of the Ballons d’Or awarded to Gianni Rivera and Roberto Baggio. On the other hand, those won by Paolo Rossi, who fixed the matches, and Fabio Cannavaro, who justifies those who fixed them, we would have done without them. »
Fabio Cannavaro lifts the World Cup trophy in 2006.
Cannavaro, the bite before OM-Parma
Italian champion in 2005 and 2006 with Juve, Cannavaro defended Luciano Moggi, the former general director of Juventus, at the origin of Calciopoli, a scandal involving managers and referees. “Moggi was the best of all, he only did what the others did too”had justified the defender. “These two titles belong to me”Cannavaro said despite the withdrawal of the 2006 title from the Old Lady. He left for Real Madrid in 2006 before returning to the Bianconeri in 2009.
In Italy, Fabio Cannavaro was also the main protagonist in another affair. On the eve of the 1999 UEFA Cup final won against OM in Moscow, the rock of Parma filmed himself receiving an IV in his room.
“Look at the state we are in, I am 25 years old and they are killing me, go ahead doctor, thread the needle, my arm is swelling; If I sell this tape do you know how much I get…? »he said in images broadcast by RAI in 2005. The product injected into Cannavaro was phosphocreatine, a molecule allowing the production of muscular energy, which was not listed in doping products.
