Cannavaro Balon d'Or 2006

I don't think there's a thread on this so I opened one now since it's official. Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro has been officialy awarded the Golden ball today at Paris. Cannavaro came 1st infront of former Juve team mate Gigi Buffon and French Thierry Henry. Ronaldino came 4th while Zidane finished 5th. The best rossonero was Andrea Pirlo who finished 9th while Gennarino Gattuso finished 14th.

On the whole IMO Cannavaro deserved it especially for the magnificent world cup he had and I'm happy that an Italian won it. My only concern is that in the past there where more defenders better than Cannavaro that haven't won this award like Facchetti, Scirea, Cabrini, Baresi and Maldini.

How come Pirlo was 9th and for god sake where is KAKA,how come his not even in top 10

This is shameful,

Congrats to Canna though,I think he deserved it..

kaka finshed 11th seeing drogba above him makes me wonder if the rest just make up the numbers after the top 3

1. Cannavaro (Italy/Real Madrid) 173 votes
2. Buffon (Italy/Juventus) 124
3. Henry (France/Arsenal) 121
4. Ronaldinho (Brazil/Barcelona) 73
5. Zidane (France) 71
6. Eto'o (Cameroon/Barcellona) 67
7. Klose (Germany/Werder) 29
8. Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea) 25
9. Pirlo (Italy/Milan) 17
10. Lehmann (Germany/Arsenal) 13
11. Deco (Portugal/Barcelona) e Kakà (Brazil/Milan) 11
13. Ribery (France/Marseille) 9
14. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Manchester Utd), Gattuso (Italy/Milan) Vieira (France/Inter) 5
17. Lampard (England/Chelsea), Podolski (Germany/Bayern), Puyol (Spain/Barcelona) 3
20. Juninho Pernambucano (Brazil/Lyon), Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Terry (England/Chelsea), Toni (Italy/Fiorentina) e Zambrotta (Italy/Barcelona) 2
25. Lahm (Germany/Bayern Munich) e Villa (Spain/Valencia) 1

It's a shame kaka isn't even in top 10 ... but shouldn't be much of a surprise considering that Dinho would have won it again by rule of popular demand if it wasn't a WC year with Italy and France reaching the final.

Eto,Klose,Drogba before Kaka, definitely Franc Football is starting to loose its image,
I would have to say that Lampard is surprisingly for me very low placed.

Zlat if we take in consideration the world Cup as they probably did,cuz Canna won than Pirlo deserves a place in top 5 if not top 3,he was by far better than Zidane and Buffon,

Pirlo: 3 times MOM including ( semi-final,final),1 goal and 4 assists.. thats the best performance in WC but too bad that Andrea is not a player that shows off like the others

I feel sad for Pirlo and Rino. Its all show business. If all the news reports had hailed Pirlo's name months before the awards were announced he would have ranked much higher or may be even at the first spot. Kaka is after Drogba and Eto'o (who did not play in the WC) -- this is more pathetic than Pirlo's case. Even Rino and Viera should have had come before Eto'o.

and Gerrard is not even in the list... I don't like him, but he's not just a good player, but important for his team in every single game, and scoring very important goals... true that Liverpool has been just OK, not great this year...

anyway, congratulations to Cannavaro, I think he deserves it... and taking Franco's note, it does honor great defenders, legends of the past who should have won it, even more than Sammer... specially Maldini who was in the top 3 several times...

if it were up to me i would probably give it to pirlo.. that's not to say that cannavaro doesn't deserve it.. i just think pirlo had one of the best world cups ever and he should atleast be among the top three.. it's sad that he's such an underrated player, he definatly deserves alot more praise than he gets

I'm sure Kaka will do better next year, especially if he continues this rich vein of form.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

It's a shame kaka isn't even in top 10 ... but shouldn't be much of a surprise considering that Dinho would have won it again by rule of popular demand if it wasn't a WC year with Italy and France reaching the final.

We don't know the procedures of the voting yet, and if we know them it may explain why Kaka is placed so low ! (anyone knows the procedure ??? If someone does, please tell us )

I know European journalists vote, but i don't know how. I counted 780 points in total. So, do 780 journalists vote for 1 player only ? Do 260 journalists vote for 3 players, or is it like with FIFA award where menagers and NT captains give 5, 3 and 2 points to 3 players ????

So, this may explain why Kaka is placed so low.

And if you think better, maybe these journalists were counting players achievments and not the form someone shows playing for his club.

Cannavaro, Pirlo and Buffon won the world cup
Zidane and Henry were runners up at the world cup ( and they are french, as most of the journalists who voted )
Eto'o and Ronaldinho led Barcelona to a Champions League trophy
Lehmann is the new record holder with some 900-1000 minutes without recieving a goal in CL, and was CL runner up
Klose was the best scorer at the World Cup.
Drogba is a mistery .....ok, he won the EPL at least, and if there were some african journalists voting, maybe that's how he got the votes.

Kaka on the other hand didn't win anything, nor was a runner up in some big World or European competition.

Maybe this is the explaination

you do have a point there, Tony, but check out Henry's positions for the last 2-3 Golden Ball competitions ... this is his 2nd or 3rd time in top 3, yet it's been a while since he's won anything with Arsenal. Not to mention that there are other players in top ten who either haven't won anything or have had only a decent WC to fall on as cushion and not much else.
Anyways, I personally would have voted for Buffon to win it.
As for how the winner is being projected, I think every journalist votes for 3 players, similar to the FIFA award.

What did the others say about this :


Former AC Milan legend Rivera said: "I would have chosen Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon but I'm happy anyway."

Paolo Rossi "Absolutely deserved"

Arsene Wenger : "Congratulations to Cannavaro but for me there is only one candidate this year and that is Thierry Henry.
He was the top goalscorer in England, the best player in England, the second-highest goalscorer in Europe behind Luca Toni.
He played in the Champions League final and he played in the World Cup final"

Lyon manager Gerrard Houllier ""Compared to other players, he certainly didn't deserve it," Houllier said in Journal du Dimanche.

"He had a great World Cup, but not a great season. Personally, I would have given it to Buffon.
About Cannavaro, you only need to look at what John Carew managed to do against him in the Champions League," Houllier continued, referring to Cannavaro's performance defending against Lyon's Carew in the 2-2 draw with Cannavaro's Real Madrid last week.
"Watching that game, you understand that it's an abominable result.
It's a scandal and the thing that bothers me most is that Thierry Henry, a player who has been scoring 20 goals a season for years now and who played two finals last season, was not even taken into consideration.There was a negative campaign in his regard."

Former Juventus great Michel Platini has criticised Fabio Cannavaro, saying the defender does not deserve to win the Ballon d'Or. It is an open secret that the World Cup-lifting defender, who left Juve for Real Madrid in the summer, will scoop the award which goes to Europe's top player.
"I have said it before and I repeat: the players who deserve it more are [Thierry] Henry and Ronaldinho," he told Italy's 'La Politica nel Pallone' TV show.
"If the prize has to go to a player who won the World Cup, I thought that [Gianluigi] Buffon deserved it more.
But as far as the whole season goes, the strongest players have definitely been Henry and Ronaldinho."

Cannavaro : "I would give two Ballon d'Or prizes," he told France Football. "One to me and one to Buffon. There is a great respect and friendship between Gigi and I."

canna deserved it. Maldini deserved it in the past but good to see a defender for once get recognition . 2007 will hopefully be kaka's year

Originally Posted by zlatanov

As for how the winner is being projected, I think every journalist votes for 3 players, similar to the FIFA award.

No, i just found it ...

Article 6 - Les cinq joueurs cités se voient respectivement attribuer 5, 4, 3, 2 et 1 points. ( so, 5 footballers get points from every journalist who has the right to vote. They get 5,4,3,2,1 points)

This makes it even more unbelievable how Kaka got only 11 points.
Especially if you look at article 10 of Ballon d'or regulations :

Article 10 - Le Ballon d’Or France Football est attribué en fonction de quatre critères principaux :
a) Ensemble des performances individuelles et collectives (palmarès) pendant l’année considérée.
b) Classe de joueur (talent + fair play).
c) Carrière.
d) Personnalité, rayonnement.

4 criterias :
a)individual and collective performances during the year .
b) Class (?) of the player ( talent+fair play)
c) Carriere
d) personality, ????


So, lets say all the journalist gave 5,4 and 3 points to one of Cannavaro, Buffon, Henry or Ronaldinho.
But i expected a lot more of them to give at least 2 or 1 point to Pirlo or Kaka.

Personally, i'd give it to one of Ronaldinho and Buffon, while Canna, Kaka, Henry and Pirlo would follow, in same order

ive heard world player of the year is either gonna go to Ronaldinho or Henry