A warm heart and a cold head must be the innate characteristics of any true leader. Fabio Cannavaro possesses both. A Neapolitan boy and Diego Maradona fanatic, his fantastic football journey brought him titles in Italy and Spain, and saw him adorn iconic shirts of clubs such as Parma, Inter, Juventus and Real Madrid.
But it was with the Azzurri that Fabio Cannavaro made his masterpiece. He earned an incredible 136 caps for Italy, inherited the captaincy from the legendary Paolo Maldini, won two Under-21 European titles and, of course, lifted that 6kg lump of gold up to the Berlin sky on a memorable July night at the 2006 World Cup.
It was an unexpected title, in the aftermath of the Calciopoli scandal – an earthquake that shook Italian football and his club, Juventus, who were relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history. Yet nothing could undermine Cannavaro’s focus that summer. He kept the rudder straight, steered his country to the title and won the Ballon d’Or as a result, as only the fourth – and last – defensive player to win the accolade in its long history.
After retiring in Dubai in 2011, Cannavaro became a manager and gained diverse experience in Italy, Saudi Arabia and China, where he won league and cup titles with Guangzhou. Now the 49-year-old sits down with FourFourTwo to tackle your questions…
Who was your inspiration?
Cellan Lloyd, via Facebook
I was very lucky as a youngster, as I had the chance to play alongside Ciro Ferrara. He has been an important reference for me for many years and from many points of view – during our time together, he was a successful player already, and on top of that, he was born in Naples and he was my captain. As a young player, I looked up to him and learned a lot from him. As I turned older and more mature, I stopped looking out for other role models and concentrated more on my own qualities and style of play.
Nevertheless, I played with other great defenders in my career and we all tried to pick the best from each other to improve our game. My main quality was the capacity to anticipate my opponents and know what would happen next; Paolo Maldini was great in sliding tackles; Ferrara wouldn’t let any opponent past him easily and would pull anyone’s shirt. Back then, it was still doable – nowadays, VAR technology won’t allow you to!
You were a ballboy at Napoli during Diego Maradona’s era. What was it like, watching him close up?
Glenn Shap, via email
Diego was unique – simply exceptional. He was different and he was the No.1. It was a privilege
