🚨 Official: this former Ballon d'Or winner to manage at the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

It’s now official: Fabio Cannavaro, Ballon d’Or winner and 2006 World Champion, is taking charge of the Uzbekistan national team, which has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history.

On Monday afternoon, the Uzbek Federation confirmed the appointment of the 52-year-old Italian legend.

His managerial career includes, among others, unsuccessful stints at Al-Nassr, Benevento, and Udinese, not to mention a brief spell on the bench for China in 2019.

Cannavaro will lead the Uzbek team at the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico next June — a historic milestone for a country on the rise in the Asian football scene.

The tough defender Abdukodir Khusanov (21 years old, Manchester City) is the standard-bearer of this golden generation.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.

📸 Michael Steele - 2006 Getty Images