Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon prepares for the group D World Cup soccer match between Italy and Uruguay on the Enviornment das Dunas in Natal, Brazil, Tuesday, June 24, 2014. At age 45 and after a profession that included a World Cup title with Italy, an extended listing of trophies with Juventus and a few years when he was thought of among the many finest goalkeepers in soccer, Gianluigi Buffon introduced his retirement on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
| Photograph Credit score: AP
At age 45 and after a profession that included a World Cup title with Italy, an extended listing of trophies with Juventus and a few years when he was thought of among the many finest goalkeepers in soccer, Gianluigi Buffon introduced his retirement on August 2.
Buffon had one season remaining on his contract with Parma in Serie B and subsequently leaves the game with the identical workforce that he started his skilled profession with practically three many years in the past.
“That’s all people! You gave me every thing. I gave you every thing. We did it collectively,” Buffon wrote on Instagram.
The top of Buffon’s profession got here in the course of the 2006 World Cup, when he conceded solely two objectives in the course of the seven matches of the Azzurri’s run to the trophy. Neither of these two objectives had been scored by opponents throughout open play. One was an own-goal by teammate Cristian Zaccardo and the opposite was a penalty kick by Zinedine Zidane in the course of the last.
At Juventus, Buffon was the spine behind 10 Serie A titles and stayed with the membership even after the 2006 “Calciopoli” scandal that noticed the workforce relegated to Serie B. He helped the Bianconeri win the second division a 12 months after the World Cup title.
The one massive title lacking from Buffon’s profession was the Champions League, having misplaced three finals with Juventus — to AC Milan in 2003, to Barcelona in 2015 and to Actual Madrid in 2017.
Buffon left Juventus for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018 solely to return to the Turin membership a 12 months later as a backup to Wojciech Szczesny. He then made a sentimental return to Parma in 2021