August 3 – Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon has retired from football at age 45.
Buffon called time on his career after an injury-interrupted season at Parma in Italy’s second tier. Buffon’s career began at the club in 1995 when he was just 17, making his debut against eventual Serie A champions AC Milan.
One of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, the Italian collected a hoard of trophies including the 2006 FIFA World Cup nestled between 10 league titles won with Juventus.
Amongst his achievements, he played 176 times for the Azzuri and 657 times in Serie A, before leaving both in 2018 where he retired from international football and joined French club PSG, where he won the Ligue 1 title.
After a year in the French capital, Buffon returned to Turin until 2021, where he saw out the remainder of his time at Parma, where his career began almost 30 years ago.
The shot-stopper is the most capped male goalkeeper of all time and is one of a very select group to have over 1,100 professional career appearances. Of players still active at an elite level, only Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo has more with 1,204.
Speaking on his decision to retire to his 10.7 million Instagram followers, Buffon said: “That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together.”
The statement was accompanied by an emotional compilation of Buffon’s career achievements and has received over 1 million likes after 24 hours.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1714468202labto1714468202ofdlr1714468202owedi1714468202sni@o1714468202fni1714468202