Gianluigi Buffon has played his last match in professional football. The Italian goalkeeper has decided not to complete his ongoing contract with Parma and bids farewell to professional football.
Thus, comes to an end a magnificent career that lasted 28 years. Buffon received offers from America and Saudi Arabia to continue his career, but after an impressive 975 club matches and 175 international appearances, it's over for the legendary goalkeeper.
On November 19, 1995, Serie A was introduced to Buffon. He made his debut in goal for Parma and impressively kept a clean sheet against the star-studded AC Milan team (0-0), which at the time included forwards like George Weah and Roberto Baggio. His first spell with Parma lasted until 2001 when Juventus signed him. At that moment, Buffon became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, displacing Edwin van der Sar, who moved to Fulham.
Buffon won the UEFA Cup, the Coppa Italia, and the Italian Super Cup with Parma, but it was at Juventus where the trophies truly started to pile up. He became Italian champion ten times, won the Coppa Italia five more times, and secured the Super Cup six times. Remarkably, in 2007, he also won the Serie B title. After a major match-fixing scandal, Juventus was relegated to the second division, but Buffon remained loyal to the club and helped them secure an immediate promotion.
In 2013, Buffon played his five hundredth match in Serie A, and in 2016, it was discussed that he was seriously heading towards the status of a Millennium Man. Reaching a thousand matches for club and country was within close reach. Buffon ultimately surpassed that milestone easily: he concludes his career in 2023 with 975 matches at the club level.
Buffon didn't just play for Parma and Juventus. In 2018, he left Juventus for a short adventure at Paris Saint-Germain, but a year later, he returned to Turin. There, he played for two more seasons before returning to his childhood love, Parma, in 2021. He made two attempts to bring the club back to Serie B. Last season, Parma reached the playoffs, but was eventually eliminated.
With Buffon's retirement, the last active player from Italy's golden team of 2006 has also stopped playing. While former teammates like Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, and Filippo Inzaghi have long embarked on their coaching careers, Buffon remained the sole remaining active player from the Italy team that won the World Cup in 2006. It was also the only trophy Buffon won with the national team.
It is not yet known what Buffon plans to do in his retirement. Italian media previously reported that he wants to spend more time with his family after a long career. There were no discussions about a role in football at that time.
