Gianluigi Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon (born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the Serie B club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and by some as the greatest ever. He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances.

Buffon's first club at the adult level was Parma, with which he made his debut in the Italian Championship in 1995, go to the section "#Parma". Gianluigi soon became one of the most promising Italian goalkeepers, and in 1999 he won the Italian Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Italian Super Cup with his club. In 2001, he moved to Juventus for a record amount of 52 million euros for a goalkeeper at that time. Go to the section "#Juventus". As a member of the Turin club, Buffon became one of the best players in the world in his position, became the champion of Italy ten times, won the Italian Cup four times and the Super Cup five times. In addition, in the 2006/07 season, he won the Serie B. Gianluigi became the first goalkeeper to be recognized as the best footballer of the year in Italy and was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the year in Italy a record 12 times. In 2017, he won the first ever The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award, go to the "#Personal" section. In 2018, after 17 years spent at Juventus, Buffon signed a contract with Paris Saint-Germain of FranceGo to the section "#Paris Saint-Germain", in which he became captain and won the French Super Cup and the Ligue 1 championship title with the team, but at the end of the season he returned back to Juventus, and then to ParmaGo to the section "#Return to Parma".

Having passed through the youth teams of the Italian national team, in 1997 Buffon made his debut as part of the main team, go to the section "#Debut and the first major tournaments". He played 176 matches for the national team and became its record holder in the number of games, also ranking seventh in all-time matches in the national teams. In 2010, Buffon became the captain of his national team, which he remained until the end of his career in it in 2018, go to the section "#Qualification for the 2018 World Cup and career completion". Participated in five World championships (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). In 2006, he became the winner of this tournament, and was also recognized as its best goaltenderreferencesexternal links#The victorious World Cup, Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup". In addition, Buffon has played at four European Championships (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), two Confederations Cups (2009, 2013) and the 1996 Olympic Games.

In 2004, he was included in the list of the 125 greatest players in the world according to Pele. In 2006, he took second place in the voting for the Golden Ball award, losing only to another Italian Fabio Cannavaro[8]. In the 2002/03 season Buffon became the first goalkeeper to be recognized as the best footballer of the year in the club European season, and in 2016 he became the first goalkeeper to receive the Golden Foot award. Buffon was also recognized as the best goalkeeper in the world by the IFFIIS a record five times, along with Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer, go to the "#Records" section.