Ballon d'Or: Ranking the 3 defenders to have won the award

#2 Fabio Cannavaro (2006)

Cannavaro with his Ballon d'Or in 2006

Fabio Cannavaro is regularly mentioned among the greatest defenders of all time and among the best in the history of the Italian national team. That is indicative of how highly valued he is, considering that some of the most legendary defenders including Giacinto Facchetti, Gaetano Scirea, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Claudio Gentile, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli among others have represented the Azurri with distinction.

Cannavaro began his career with hometown club Napoli, and went on to represent some of Europe's biggest clubs including Juventus, Parma, Inter Milan and Real Madrid - winning numerous titles along the way.

The most defining moment of his career came in the summer of 2006 when he captained Italy to their fourth world title, defeating France on penalties in Germany.

Cannavaro was emphatic in that game, and earned the nickname 'Wall of Berlin' for his efforts at thwarting the fearsome French attack in the absence of his regular partner Alessandro Nesta, who was ruled out through injury.

Despite not being the tallest of center-backs; standing at just 5 ft 10', Cannavaro possessed incredible jump power that saw him become a decent asset in both boxes.

During extra-time of the semifinal fixture against Germany in the 2006 World Cup, Cannavaro won a header against the imposing Per Mertesacker and kick-started an attack that led to Italy scoring the match-winning goal.

Cannavaro was the marshal of an Italian defense that conceded just one goal from open play en-route their World Cup triumph. He played every single minute of the tournament but was not booked across his 690 minutes of action.

He was subsequently named the Silver Ball winner of the tournament and went one further by pipping Gianluigi Buffon and Thierry Henry to the 2006 Ballon d'Or.