Paolo Cannavaro

Early career

Cannavaro made his professional debut for his hometown side Napoli during the 1998–99 season in Serie B, while he was 17 years old. The following season he was signed by Parma, playing alongside his older brother Fabio in his first season at the club. Paolo's debut for Parma came when he replaced his brother as a substitute in Parma's 4–1 victory against Lecce.

Parma and Verona

Verona took the player on loan during the 2001–02 season; Cannavaro made 25 appearances for the club, scoring his first professional goal. The following year he returned to Parma where he spent much of the time as a substitute for the following two seasons (2002–03 and 2003–04). During the 2004–05 season, Cannavaro became more active in the first team at Parma, making 24 appearances and scoring 4 goals from defence, also helping the club to reach the 2004–05 UEFA Cup semi-final.

Napoli

As Napoli had been recently promoted back into Serie B and were looking to build a squad with potential, Cannavaro was brought back to his first club in 2006. After helping to re-establish the club in the top flight of Italian football in his first season back, Cannavaro was installed as the team's captain the following season and subsequently played a key role in the club's resurgence, helped his team to qualify for the UEFA Cup in 2008: he later also helped his team to earn a spot in the Champions League in 2011 and lifted the club's first major trophy in more than 20 years…

As a youngster, Cannavaro played for Italy under-21 national football team on 18 occasions between 2002 and 2004, notably representing the Italy under-21 side at the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where they reached the semi-finals. He followed in the footsteps of his older brother by earning his first and only call up for the Italian national senior team under manager Roberto Donadoni, on 13 October 2007, for a friendly match in Florence against South Africa on 17 October, although he did not make an appearance during the match.

Assistant coaching roles

Following his retirement from professional football in December 2017, Paolo joined his brother, manager Fabio Cannavaro, on the technical staff at Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande. They stayed at Guangzhou until September 2021, when they tended their resignations. He served as Fabio Cannavaro's assistant at Serie B club Benevento from September 2022 to February 2023, and Udinese in the final part of the 2023–24 season.

Pro Vercelli

On 29 June 2024, Cannavaro took on his first head coaching job at Serie C club Pro Vercelli. On 28 November 2024, after a lacklustre start of the season, Cannavaro resigned from his post at Pro Vercelli together with his entire coaching staff composed by assistant Rolando Bianchi and fitness coach Nicandro Vizoco.

Cannavaro was born in Naples on 26 June 1981. He is the younger brother of former football defender Fabio Cannavaro. His nephew and son of Fabio Cannavaro, Christian, is also a footballer, who currently plays as a midfielder for Benevento and previously played for Paolo's former club Sassuolo. His son Manuel (born in 2002) is also a footballer, in the role of central midfielder.