Cannavaro: Europes Best Player

Cannavaro: Europes Best Player

by

Julie Smith

The Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro received the Golden Ball Award. No defender had won this award in the last 10 years and the Italian is the third defender in thirty years to achieve this.

The Golden Ball Award is given to Europes best soccer player since 1956. It was created by the French football magazine France Football. This prize is also known as the European Footballer of the Year Award. It is given every year to the player thats considered to have performed the best way during the previous year.

The requirement to win this prize is that the player must have been playing for a club based within UEFA’s jurisdiction. The player also must be of European nationality to be eligible. A group of European football journalists is responsible for voting for the best player.

Only three players have won this award three times: Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten from the Netherlands, and Michel Platini from France.

This year, the winner was Cannavaro who used to play for Juventus (Italy) during last season and helped them win the World Cup but now he is playing with Real Madrid.

Gianluigi Buffon who is the Italian goalkeeper, ended in second place with 124 points, and Thierry Henry was third with 121. Ronaldinho that won the award in 2005 was fourth with 73 points, and Zindine Zidane was fifth with 71. There were fifty players nominated.

About the Author:

Julie Smith is one of the most recognized copy writers on Sports Betting

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Cannavaro: Europes Best Player