Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro won the Golden Ball award Monday, the first defender in 10 years selected as Europe's best player.

Cannavaro, who played for Juventus but moved to Real Madrid after helping Italy win the World Cup, got 173 points in France Football magazine's annual poll of 52 journalists from around the world. Juventus goalie Gianluigi Buffon was second with 124 points, followed by Arsenal striker Thierry Henry with 121.

FC Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho, who won the award last year, was fourth with 73 points. France's Zinedine Zidane was fifth with 71. Cannavaro is the third defender in 30 years to win - Matthias Sammer won the award in 1996 and Franz Beckenbauer in 1976.

He was also the fifth Italian to win, following Roberto Baggio (1993), Paolo Rossi (1982), Gianni Rivera (1969) and Argentine-born Omar Sivori (1961).

"This is a double honor," Cannavaro said. "It is given to the best player, and the fact I am a defender makes it even more special."

"It is a fantastic award, the crowning achievement of an exceptional year," said Italy's coach Marcelo Lippi,.

The 33-year-old Cannavaro also has also played for Napoli, Parma and Inter Milan. At Parma, he played 212 league games and formed one of Serie A's best defensive partnerships with Lilian Thuram.

"I think he deserves the award if we take into account the World Cup as a whole," Thuram told French television.

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意大利国家足球队现任队长法比奥·卡纳瓦罗于本周一荣膺“欧洲金球奖”，这是十年来首位后卫球员获此殊荣。

今年夏天卡纳瓦罗带领意大利国家队夺得世界杯冠军，之后，他离开尤文图斯俱乐部，加盟皇马俱乐部。法国《足球》[屏蔽]每年都会召集来自世界各地的52名记者评选出当年的欧洲足球先生，今年卡纳瓦罗以173分捧回金球奖杯，尤文图斯俱乐[屏蔽]守gate员布冯和阿森纳俱乐[屏蔽]前锋特里·亨利分别以124分和121分名列第二位和第三位。

去年的金球奖得主、巴塞罗那俱乐部前锋罗纳尔迪尼奥今年以73分位居第四。法国的齐达内以71分排名第五。卡纳瓦罗是30年来第三位当选欧洲足球先生的后卫，此前的两位是1996年的马蒂亚斯·萨默尔（德国）和1976年的弗兰兹·贝肯鲍尔（德国）。

同时，卡纳瓦罗是继罗伯特·巴乔（1993）、保罗·罗西（1982）、吉安尼·里维拉（1969）和阿根廷裔球员奥马·施华尼（1961）之后第五位获此殊荣的意大利球员。

卡纳瓦罗说：“这个奖对于我来说是个双重荣誉。一方面，这是一个最佳球员的奖项，而我又是后卫出身，所以这个奖对于我来说更加特别。”

意大利国家队教练马尔切洛·里皮说：“对于意大利足球来说，今年是不同寻常的一年，这个特殊的奖项则是意大利队在这一年中得到的最高荣誉。”

33岁的卡纳瓦罗曾效力于意大利的拿波里、帕尔玛和国际米兰俱乐部。他在帕尔玛俱乐部共打了212场联赛，并和利利安·图拉姆组成了意甲联赛中最坚固的后防线。

图拉姆在接受法国电视台的采访时说：“卡纳瓦罗带领意大利队夺得本届世界杯的冠军，这个奖项应该属于他。”



defender : 后卫

crowning : 最高的；无比的

我觉得还是应该是齐达内