After an injury riddled season at boyhood club Parma in Italy’s second tier Buffon has decided to hang up the gloves and end his playing career. He announced his retirement on Instagram saying ‘’that’s all folks! I gave you everything. We did it together’’.
Buffon has had an illustrious playing career spending 17 years with Italian giants Juventus, where he won a plethora of domestic titles and was named Serie A goalkeeper of the year a record 12 times. His trophy cabinet also includes a world cup being the starting keeper for the victorious Italian team in 2006.
At this edition of the world cup, he conceded only one goal from open play even that being an own goal and a Zidane penalty in the final. Only one trophy has eluded Buffon his entire career that being the UEFA Champions league. He has reached the final three times with Juventus in 2003, 2015 and 2017 each time being denied victory.
After 2017 he left Juventus for a short stint at Paris Saint Germain where he was able to add the ligue 1 title and the Trophée des Champions, he would return to Juve in 2019 where played backup to Wojciech Szczęsny and added a further record breaking tenth serie A title to his resume.
Buffon has been a role model for goalkeepers for 3 decades breaking records, winning trophies and playing for an endless amount of time in the minds of many. It is sad to see him end his playing career but perhaps timely as Buffon turns 46 in January 2024.
Many personalities from the footballing world send there tributes with some calling for Buffon to become part of the Italian National Team coaching setup. We don’t know what’s next for Buffon but we might see him return as a coach or in some capacity, we can only speculate as Buffon takes a well deserved break from the game he has been a part of all his life.