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.

[9] On 31 January 2014, Cannavaro joined Sassuolo on loan for the remainder of the season for free,[10] helping the newly promoted club to avoid relegation.

[18][19][23] 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.

[24] He successively served as Fabio Cannavaro's assistant at Serie B club Benevento from September 2022 to February 2023,[25] and Udinese in the final part of the 2023–24 season.

[27] In December 2012, Cannavaro was handed a six-month ban for failing to report an attempt of match fixing by then-Napoli goalkeeper Matteo Gianello.

[29][30] In February 2015, Cannavaro, his brother Fabio and his sister-in-law Daniela were respectively handed six-month, ten-month and four-month prison sentences for breaching orders and entering Fabio's residence after it had been seized by authorities in 2009, amid an investigation into fraudulent activity and tax evasion; all three have appealed and will have their sentences suspended until the final judgement has been made.

[31][32] In November 2017, following the Italy national football team's failure to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Cannavaro drew criticism in the media over a controversial Instagram post in which he blamed Italy missing out on the upcoming tournament on the influx of non-Italian footballers in Serie A over the previous 15 years.