After an illustrious 28-year career in football, Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement.
The 45-year-old has already declared that he plans to continue playing through the 2026 World Cup and has every intention of staying at Parma through the remainder of his 2024–2024 contract.
Prior to making the announcement on Wednesday, the goalie had to reevaluate his future due to a series of injuries over the previous year. He took to social media to post a video of some of his best career highlights, along with the caption: ‘That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together.’
Buffon is now expected to be offered the Chief of Delegation role for the Italian national team, previously held by former Chelsea striker Gianluca Vialli.
After beginning his career in the Parma academy and landing a transfer to Juventus, Buffon returned to Parma in 2021.
During his final two seasons with the Serie B team, he tried to get Parma back into the top division of Italy but was unsuccessful. During his second spell with Parma, Buffon made 45 appearances across all leagues, but the previous campaign was marred by injuries. He only appeared in 19 games during the 2022–23 season due to hamstring and calf problems.
Pelé included Buffon in the FIFA 100 list of the top 100 active players in the world in 2004. He is the only goalie to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year title, which he did in 2003 after making it to the Champions League final.
He also won that year’s UEFA award for best goalkeeper and was selected five times for the UEFA Team of the Year. Buffon was selected three times to the FIFPro World11 and finished as the 2006 Ballon d’Or runner-up.
He was the first goalkeeper to ever receive the Golden Foot Award and, along with Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer, was named the IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper a record five times. He would later be named the best goalkeeper of the 21st century, of the previous 25 years, and of the decade by the same organization.
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