Italy legend, Gianluigi Buffon retires from football

Former Italy goalkeeper and World Cup winner Gianluigi Buffon has announced his retirement from football.

The Italy legend called it quits ahead of the 2023/24 season, despite having one-year remaining on his contract at Serie B side Parma.

Announcing his retirement from football, Buffon “That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together.”

The announcement brings to an end one of the greatest and most enduring goalkeeping careers football has ever witnessed, one that lasted a staggering 28 years and included a memorable World Cup triumph in 2006 plus 10 Serie A titles with Juventus and more success in France with Paris Saint-Germain.

Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, Buffon made his professional debut for Parma aged 17 in 1995 and four years later won the Coppa Italia, UEFA Cup, and Italian Supercoppa at the club. He moved to Juventus in 2001 in a €52 million ($57m) transfer, a then-world-record fee for a goalkeeper.

At Juve, he won 10 Serie A titles in 19 seasons, as well as the Serie B championship in 2006-07 when the club played in the second tier after they were relegated as a result of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.

He also won the Coppa Italia five times and the Italian Supercoppa on six occasions. Buffon reached three Champions League finals with Juve but failed to win the famous trophy.

In 2018, he moved to PSG as a free agent and won the Ligue 1 title and Trophée des Champions before returning to Juve the next season.

Buffon is the most capped player for Italy, with 176 international appearances. He made his Azzurri debut in 1997 and was selected for nine major tournaments from 1998 to 2016 and was an unused sub at the 1998 World Cup.

He kept five clean sheets in seven games to help Italy lift the 2006 World Cup. Buffon was named Ballon d’Or runner-up that year, beaten only by Azzurri teammate Fabio Cannavaro. He was also captain of the Italy side that lost the Euro 2012 final to Spain.

Buffon who retired from international duty in 2017 after 20 years of service, is now bowing out from club football. He made 975 club appearances in total before retirement.