Gianluigi Buffon retires after a career of 28 years

Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement on the 2nd of August after an almost three decades long career. Buffon announced his retirement at the age of 45 following a career that includes a World Cup victory with Italy, numerous accolades with Juventus, and years when he was regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in football.

Buffon departs the sport with the same team he started his professional career with over three decades ago since he had one season left on his contract with Parma in Serie B.

The apex of Buffon’s career occurred during the 2006 World Cup when he allowed just two goals in seven games as the Azzurri advanced to the championship. Both of those goals weren’t scored by opponents in the course of regular play. One was an own goal scored by Cristian Zaccardo, while the other came via Zinedine Zidane’s penalty kick in the championship game.

Buffon stayed with Juventus even after the 2006 ‘Calciopoli’ controversy that resulted in the team being demoted to Serie B. At Juventus, he was the driving force behind 10 Serie A championships. A year after winning the World Cup, he assisted the Bianconeri in winning the second division.

The Champions League was the only major championship Buffon’s career lacked because he lost three times with Juventus, to AC Milan in 2003, Barcelona in 2015, and Real Madrid in 2017.

Buffon left Juventus for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, although he later came back to the Turin club as Wojciech Szczesny’s backup. Then, in 2021, he returned to Parma out of sentiment.

Reaction from players and clubs

Neymar shared Buffon’s Instagram post to his story and called him a ‘Legend’. Another former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) teammate, Kylian Mbappe called Buffon a ‘golden man’. In a tweet, Mbappe said, “It was a huge honour for me to have the chance to rub shoulders with you and cross paths with you in your legendary career.” 

Juventus in a statement said, “We would like to thank you once again: It is one of those moments we will remember in the history of football. You were not only the best, you did more than that, you became THE goalkeeper.” His boyhood club, Parma paid him respect by saying, “a man, a champion, a captain for the club and the city.” The Parma club owner, Kyle Krause said, “Over the course of his illustrious career, Gigi was unequalled, in his abilities, an implacable determination and an unshakable passion both on the pitch and off it.”

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