Gianluigi Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon known as Gigi was born in Carrara (Tuscany), on January 28, 1978.

Source Wikipedia

He came from a sporty family; his mother was a shot put and discus champion, his father a shot-putter too, his uncle played top level basketball, his two sisters played top level volleyball and he is also a distant relative of former great goalkeeper Lorenzo Buffon.

As a boy his clubs were Canaletto, Perticata, Bonascola and in 1991 he joined the Parma academy. He himself was a Genoa fan as a boy.

In 1995 he debuted for the Parma first team and would stay six seasons. He made 220 total appearances and won a Coppa Italia (1999), a Supercoppa (1999) and a UEFA Cup (1999). His managers were Nevio Scala, Carlo Ancelotti, Alberto Malesani (including the great 1998-99 season) plus briefly Renzo Ulivieri and very briefly Arrigo Sacchi.

In 2001 he joined Juventus for an incredible 75 billion lire. He would remain with the Bianconeri for 16 seasons. He made 666 appearances and won 9 league titles, the Coppa Italia 4 times, and the Supercoppa 5 times. His managers were Marcello Lippi for three seasons, Fabio Capello for two, Didier Deschamps, Claudio Ranieri, Ciro Ferrara, Alberto Zaccheroni, Luigi Delneri, Antonio Conte for three and Massimiliano Allegri for four. Between 2012 and 2018 Juventus won six consecutive league titles (3 with Conte and 3 with Allegri). In this long period Buffon also followed Juventus down to Serie B in 2006-07 (due to the Calciopoli scandal) and helped them win promotion and then on to more successes.

In 2018 he went for a foreign experience and joined PSG. He only stayed a season playing 25 games under Thomas Tuchel. The Parisiens won the Ligue 1 and the French Super Cup (Monaco 4-0) but lost the French Cup final (Rennes on penalties).

In 2019 he returned to Juventus for two more seasons but was more of a reserve to Wojciech Szczęsny. He played another 29 games (17 in A) and won another Scudetto under Maurizio Sarri (2020) and a Coppa Italia (2021) and Supercoppa (2021) under Andrea Pirlo.

In 2021 he made a romantic return to his first club Parma. The Gialloblu were now in Serie B and finished 12th and 4th (then losing in the playoffs to Cagliari). He played another 35 games under Enzo Maresca, Giuseppe Iachini and then Fabio Pecchia.

He then retired at 45.

He also had a fantastic international career. He earned a record 176 caps (1997-2018) and won the 2006 World Cup. He also won a runners-up medal at the 2012 Euros. He was Italy captain a record 80 times. He took part in five World Cups.

Since retiring he has followed his business activities; a restaurant in Pistoia and a beach resort near Massa.

He has also been involved with his hometown football club Carrarese (now in Serie B) where in 2012 was the sole shareholder. He has since given way to new owners.

Buffon is currently working for the Italian Football Federation as head of delegation for the national side.

Buffon was a superb goalkeeper. At 1.92 and 92 kilos he was strong and athletic but also agile with excellent reflexes. He had a great sense of position plus charisma and leadership qualities. These combined with his strength and technical abilities made him one of the best goalkeepers in history.

He has won countless awards and still holds several records at club level too: number of league titles (10), Coppa Italia winner (6 with Roberto Mancini), Supercoppa winner (7), unbeaten minutes in single Serie A format (974), most consecutive games unbeaten (10), Italian player with most trophies (23), Italian player with most club appearances (975), player with most appearances in A (657), most Juventus appearances (526), most Juventus appearances in A (489), one could go on...

At Parma and Juventus he is a legend but he is popular all over Italy a sort of national treasure. When he played Lazio in Rome he was one of the only, if not the only, keeper who was applauded when he took his place between the posts under the Curva Nord. A gesture he always responded to with a wave.

The Buffon sports tradition continues as one of his sons plays for Pisa in Serie A as a winger and has also been called up and played for the Czech Republic U18s (Buffon's first wife Alena Šeredová is Czech).

Sources

Wikipedia