Fabio Cannavaro, the Italian football legend who currently serves as the head coach of the Uzbekistan national football team, gave an interview this week, talking about topics including the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Brazil, and Italy.
You played in four World Cups as a player in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010, and even won the 2006 World Cup title. Now you will take part in this year's World Cup as a national team head coach for the first time.
Yes, I played in four World Cups as a player, but the situation I face now as a coach is a bit different, because it brings greater responsibility. You have to take control of everything and be vigilant about everything... It's more thrilling and exciting.
Uzbekistan has qualified for the World Cup for the first time and been drawn into Group K for this year's tournament. What is your assessment of this group draw?
This is a really tough group, and we will face several strong teams. The teams in the same group (Portugal and Colombia) are both ranked in the top 20 of the FIFA World Rankings and have outstanding players who can decide the outcome of a match at any moment. This will be our first ever World Cup appearance. We will face every game with the utmost confidence, because we have nothing to lose. At the same time, I also tell my players to enjoy this moment, because playing in the World Cup is an extraordinary thing.
This week you also visited the Brazilian Football Confederation and met with Carlo Ancelotti, the head coach of the Brazil national football team, taking a group photo with him.
He is extremely happy! He's in a great mood because he's working with people he admires and has an excellent relationship with the players. Ancelotti knows that coaching the Brazil national team comes with enormous pressure, but I think he is in an extremely good situation right now.
Italy needs to participate in the 2026 World Cup play-offs this March, and your friend Gennaro Gattuso is currently the head coach of the Italy national football team.
We all hope Italy can secure qualification, because we have already missed two consecutive World Cups, and it would be a disaster to miss the tournament for the third time in a row. But I believe Gennaro Gattuso is the perfect person to lead the Italy national team to qualify for the World Cup once again.
