ZURICH: Brazil won the Team of the Year award the fifth straight year as they pipped World Cup winners Italy for first place in the final 2006 football rankings published by the ruling body FIFA yesterday.
Brazil finished the year with 1,588 points despite a quarter-final exit at the World Cup in Germany. The 1-0 loss to eventual finalists France was the only 2006 defeat for the Selecao, who won 10 other games and drew once.
