Italy legend Fabio Cannavaro reveals a France Football journalist followed him home after a training session at Real Madrid to inform him that he had won the Ballon d’Or: ‘I thought he was kidding me.’
Cannavaro won the Ballon d’Or in 2006, months after leading Italy to winning the World Cup.
The former defender joined Real Madrid from Juventus after the Calciopoli scandal that summer and won the most important individual award for footballers a few months later.
But how did he learn he had won the Ballon d’Or?
How Italy legend Cannavaro learned he had won Ballon d’Or
“A France Football journalist came to Valdebebas in Madrid. I was in my car and heard somebody shouting ‘Fabio, Fabio,” the former defender told Gazzetta event Festival dello Sport.
“I stopped the car. He was breathless and started talking to me. He said, ‘I need to speak to you. I work for France Football’, and he gave me his business card.
“I said: ‘I am going home’, and he asked: ‘Can I come with you? I need to talk to you about an important thing regarding the Ballon d’Or.’
“He entered the car and said: ‘Look, I know there’s so much time before the ceremony, but from votes, it emerged that you’ve won the Ballon d’Or.’
“I thought he was kidding me,” Cannavaro recalled.
“I called my wife and said I was coming home with a friend who had told me I’d win the Ballon d’Or. She said: ‘Look, Fabio, I think it’s a joke.’
“It was funny and it was unexpected. I knew the World Cup had been fantastic, but winning it for a defender is practically impossible. Receiving this individual trophy paid off for all the hard work I did.”