Gold Football presented to Cannavaro, the Sting eyewear testimonial

He won the world championships as captain of the national team and now his talent has been awarded with the Gold Football, the top recognition for soccer players.

De Rigo could not have chosen a better year for selecting Fabio Cannavaro as a testimonial and from January 2007 he'll be the face of the Sting brand's two sun and vision collections for men.

'We are extremely pleased about this additional confirmation' commented Michele Aracri, chief executive of De Rigo Vision, 'which without a shadow of a doubt places Fabio Cannavaro among the most important personalities of 2006'.

Decisive, sunny, cheerful, he epitomizes the successful sportsman. He is young and fashion conscious, but he also has his own special brand of determined and non-conformist style. These are just a few of the characteristics that made De Rigo Vision choose him as the new testimonial for the Sting line.

'When we contacted him', Sting brand manager Barbara De Rigo continued enthusiastically, 'no-one could deny that at the time Cannavaro was the symbol of an Italy that wins. Thanks to the Gold Football award now more than ever this opinion is confirmed: we could not have made a better decision'.

10 years after the last presentation of the award to a player from Italy - the legendary Roberto Baggio - Italy is back in the limelight on the world stage thanks to defender Fabio Cannavaro, something that very few in this role have achieved.

'To fit in with the player's commitments with Real Madrid, the location for the photographic shoot a few weeks ago was Madrid', explained Barbara De Rigo. 'Despite his continuing rise to fame, it was interesting to see that Cannavaro is still a reserved, simple and very helpful person. On the same day we also filmed the video for a commercial that will appear between April and May'.