The top spot in the FTBL ranking of Italian defenders went from Juventus' Fabio Cannavaro (pictured right) to teammate Giorgio Chiellini (pictured left) after the Old Lady of Turin netted a narrow 1:0 win over Haifa Maccabi yesterday in their Champions League group stage game.

Cannavaro kept the leadership just for a day after he had pushed aside Fiorentina’s Alessandro Gamberini, who is now in 3rd position with a tally of 86.12 points. Chiellini claimed the lead after scoring the only goal for Juventus last night.

Cannavaro’s FTBL rating remained almost unchanged at 89.38 points, while Chiellini’s shot up 17.9 rating points, to 98.67 points.

If Juventus can sustain their winning run, it is possible Chiellini will capture a spot in the top 6 of the world ranking of defenders as early as in November: his combined plank to beat in the following several games does not exceed 9 rating points.