Zinedine Zidane named the best player

Monday, July 10, 2006

The retiring French football star Zinedine Zidane has been awarded the 2006 Fifa World Cup's Golden Ball award. Zidane secured 2,012 votes, narrowly beating Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, who secured 1,977.

When Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the final match, it was expected that Zidane would not win the award because of the shameful incident.

German striker Miroslav Klose won the Golden Shoe award for the most goals. Klose scored five goals in the tournament, besting the second highest goal scorer by two goals. Klose's strike partner Lukas Podolski, had won the best young player award of the tournament.

Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon won the best goalkeeper award, while Portugal were named the most entertaining team in the tournament.

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