Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out of Euro 2008 after suffering ankle ligament damage yesterday, the Italian soccer federation said.
The 34-year-old defender collided with Giorgio Chiellini in
Italy's first training session in Austria and his departure was
confirmed after having tests in hospital.
Alessandro Gamberini has been called up as a replacement and
will arrive at their base near Vienna today.
"Fabio Cannavaro must say goodbye to the European
championship," a statement on the Federation website (
www.figc.it) said.
Cannavaro, who lifted the World Cup two years ago, will hold
a news conference today alongside coach Roberto Donadoni, the
statement added.
Capped 116 times, Cannavaro has been a key figure in Italy's
defence and was voted FIFA's World Player of the Year in 2006.
However, he has become slower and more error-prone since
moving to Real Madrid from Juventus following the World Cup
triumph.
His place in the national side has never been in doubt but
the emergence of centre back Andrea Barzagli, who has produced some
assured displays for Italy in the last year, will slightly cushion
the blow for Donadoni.
Defender Marco Materazzi is also in the squad while Chiellini
and Christian Panucci can play at centre back rather than full
back.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon may be the most likely candidate
to take over as captain with midfielders Gennaro Gattuso and
Massimo Ambrosini other options.
The world champions flew into Austria earlier yesterday.
Italy face the Netherlands in their first Group C match in
Berne on June 9th before playing Romania and France.