1988–1995: Youth career and Napoli As a youngster, Cannavaro played for a team from
Bagnoli before being quickly spotted by the scouts of
Napoli, his hometown and favourite childhood team. Cannavaro initially served as the club's
ball boy and would often watch his idols
Diego Maradona and
Ciro Ferrara play. He later joined the club's youth team, initially playing as a
midfielder like his idol
Marco Tardelli, before the team's youth coach switched him to the role of centre-back. He gained a reputation when, in a training session at Napoli, the young Fabio produced a strong sliding challenge on Maradona, who was then the undisputed star of the club, to dispossess him. The rough challenge angered teammates and staff at Napoli. However, Maradona himself defended the promising player and encouraged him to play the way he wanted, and reportedly congratulated Cannavaro by giving him his boots as a souvenir after the training session. Cannavaro's progress as a player was such that he soon became a member of the first team alongside some of his childhood idols. Cannavaro's debut in
Serie A came on 7 March 1993, in
Turin, in a 4–3 defeat to
Juventus. As a centre-back alongside Ferrara, he soon demonstrated his anticipation, tackling, distribution and his ability to start attacking plays after winning possession. He scored his first career goal at the
San Siro, against
Milan, on 8 January 1995. However, despite his promising performances, the post-Maradona Napoli were in desperate need of funds and were soon forced to sell Cannavaro to
Parma, where Cannavaro won the
UEFA Cup and
Coppa Italia, and was named the Serie A
Defender of the Year. Cannavaro remained at Napoli until 1995, earning nearly 60 total appearances with the club, scoring one goal. At the time, Parma were in financial difficulty, while Inter had just lost a Serie A title in dramatic circumstances to Juventus and were in the process of rebuilding following four barren years and the departure of star striker
Ronaldo. Along with
Francesco Coco and his former Parma teammate
Hernán Crespo, Cannavaro was supposed to be one of the faces of a new-look Inter led by manager
Héctor Cúper. By moving to Turin, he reunited with his ex-Parma teammates Lilian Thuram and Gianluigi Buffon, and together the trio formed one of the most feared defences in the Serie A, alongside the likes of
Gianluca Zambrotta,
Gianluca Pessotto,
Alessandro Birindelli,
Jonathan Zebina and
Federico Balzaretti. Juventus went on to win two consecutive
Scudetti in
2005 and
2006, although they suffered consecutive quarter final eliminations in the Champions League. In the former season, he was also paired with club icons
Paolo Montero and Ciro Ferrara. Cannavaro also won four
Oscar del Calcio awards for his exceptional seasons with the Turin giants, winning the 2005
Serie A Defender of the Year, the 2006 Defender of the Year, the 2006
Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year and the 2006
Serie A Footballer of the Year. and gave him the number 5 shirt which had previously been worn by
French international Zinedine Zidane. Cannavaro spent three seasons at
Madrid, winning the
Liga title in
2006–07 and
2007–08, and being named the 2006
FIFA World Player of the Year, also winning the
2006 Ballon d'Or. On 19 May 2009, it was confirmed Cannavaro would return to Juventus for the
2009–10 season at the conclusion of his contract. On his final match at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, he was given a standing ovation by the fans. In April 2013, Cannavaro was named by
Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in
Real Madrid's history".
2009–2010: Return to Juventus Three years after Cannavaro left Juventus, and following the end of his contract with Real Madrid, in the summer of 2009, he decided to return to the club on a free transfer. Cannavaro started the new season very well, forming good defensive partnerships with
Nicola Legrottaglie,
Martín Cáceres,
Zdeněk Grygera,
Fabio Grosso and most notably
Giorgio Chiellini, in front of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. However, from Autumn onwards, Juventus' form took a turn for the worse. Having been injured for a while in late 2009, Cannavaro struggled with his own form both on his comeback and subsequently, and Juventus were knocked out of the
Champions League, finishing third in their group. His performances had become unreliable, so much so that his hometown club Napoli made no attempt to sign him, despite Cannavaro expressing his wish to rejoin the club on more than one occasion. He made 16 appearances for the Dubai club, scoring two goals. Cannavaro announced his retirement from football in July 2011 due to a serious knee problem; doctors had told him he could no longer play. One year after Cannavaro's retirement from Al-Ahli, it was announced he was joining the Indian league team Siliguri. In a footballers' auction whose line-up included names such as
Jay-Jay Okocha,
Hernán Crespo and
Robbie Fowler, Cannavaro was bought by Siliguri for $830,000, exceeding his "base price" by $50,000. However, the league never came to fruition and Cannavaro stayed in retirement. ==International career==