Fabio Cannavaro has trained his guns on winning the Champions League with Real Madrid after being named the FIFA World Player of the Year on Monday night.

The Real Madrid and Italy defender capped an impressive year by beating Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho to the top honour at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich. He is just the second defender to claim this honour the earlier one being his predecessor Paulo Maldini.

Cannavaro adds the trophy to his World Cup winner's medal and Ballon D'Or from this season, but there is still one important honour missing from the 33-year-old's collection - the Champions League.

"Before hanging up my boots I hope to win that fantastic competition and get my hands on the trophy," he told FIFA.com.

"We've got a very strong team at Real Madrid this term and on our day we can beat anybody. I'm very confident that we're going to win things this year."

Real will play Bayern Munich in the Champions League last-16 when the tournament resumes in February.

However, even if Real can go all the way, Cannavaro will not be able to top the season he has just had - highlighted by him captaining Italy to World Cup glory in Germany in the summer.

He would have added another Serie A winner's medal to his collection but for the match-fixing scandal which saw Juventus stripped of their title.

"It's been an incredible year," Cannavaro said. "I've won so much this past 12 months that it's going to be a very hard act to follow.

"I think that it's been the most important year of my career so far. Without a doubt, winning the World Cup was the high point, that's the pinnacle for any player."

Italy went into the tournament with several players facing uncertain futures as the scandal raged at home.

But the situation seemed to galvanise the squad, who became determine to do what they could to repair Italian football's reputation abroad.

"I was totally convinced that we were going to win," Cannavaro said. "When I looked into my team-mates' eyes, I could see they had an extra edge, something different to previous tournaments.

"During qualifying we felt we had a strong side, but on this occasion it was more than that, there was a determination there I'd never seen before."

It was Juve's relegation to Serie B for their role in the match-fixing that prompted Cannavaro's summer move to Madrid, where he was quickly reunited with his coach from Turin, Fabio Capello.

"It was a tough decision (to leave) because I was very happy in Turin," he said.

"I liked the city, the fans adored me and they'd given me their unconditional support. But I also felt that at the age of 33 there were a number of things that I still wanted to achieve in football.”

"It would have been great to play for Juve in Serie B, but I wanted to finish my career at a certain level. I also felt ready for a new challenge."