In football, not many players are able to play until the age of 45. One of those few rare examples is Gianluigi Buffon. The keeper nicknamed “Superman” was the last member of the 2006 World Cup-winning team to retire from football. The decision taken on Tuesday (1/8, Italian time) is the end of a long journey.
The career journey of the player born in 1978 is truly colorful. There are glittering achievements, records, complete with a little spice of unique decisions. In terms of achievements, this goalkeeper who started and ended his career at Parma has a lot of achievements, both individually and as a team. In his 27 years of career, the Scudetto, Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup trophies have been won many times, complete with a number of awards.
Starting from the Italian League’s Best Goalkeeper, UEFA’s Best Goalkeeper, to the 2006 World Cup Best Goalkeeper, everything is enough to explain why Buffon is widely called one of the best goalkeepers of all time. Calmness and consistency go hand in hand with talent. This combination is a special strength for any team he strengthens.
At Parma, the 1998-1999 season’s Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup (now Europa League) trophies attracted the interest of Juventus, who without hesitation poured 52 million euros in transfer funds to make up for it in 2001. Coming as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Buffon is able to prove his quality consistently. Dozens of domestic trophies and various individual achievements he achieved with Juve even made the transfer price look cheap, because he could be paid multiple times through achievements on the field.
His first period in Turin (2001-2018) became the pinnacle of his playing career. During this period of ups and downs, his position under the rule was unshakable until he was 40 years old. He was also one of the few pillars of the team who chose to stay, when the Zebra had to play in Serie B (2006-2007 season) due to Calciopoli.
The decision proved to be the right one, because apart from being able to return to promotion, Juventus were able to establish dominance in the Italian League for most of the 2010 decade, by scoring consecutive Scudetto records. Uniquely, this historical era began with Sulley Muntari’s “ghost goal” which was secured by Buffon, when the Old Lady met AC Milan in the 2011-2012 Serie A season.
The only thing that Buffon lacked at the peak of his form and throughout his glittering career was just his misfortune in the Champions League. Despite qualifying for the final 3 times (2002-2003, 2014-2015 and 2016-2017) the Big Ear trophy was never won, because they lost on penalties against Milan, plus lost twice 3-1 to Barcelona and Real Madrid who were both is in top form.
After that, the career of the goalkeeper who is usually called Gigi is quite attached to unique decisions. In the summer of 2018, the Parma academy graduate decided to move to PSG, shortly after his contract at Juventus expired. With Les Parisiens, Buffon shared playing minutes with Alphonse Areola (now at West Ham United) and won the 2018-2019 Ligue 1 trophy.
The portiere’s period in Paris was fairly short, as it only lasted a year. This is his only experience playing in a club outside of Italy. While playing in France, Buffon shared the field with Marcus Thuram (son of Lilian Thuram) and Timothy Weah (son of George Weah). This experience is unique, because in the past Buffon has faced George Weah, also being a teammate of Lilian Thuram at Parma and Juventus.
From France, this Superman fan goalkeeper then decided to return to Juventus (2019-2021). Although this time he shared playing minutes with Wojciech Szczesny (Poland), his second period at Juve was unique. Apart from witnessing the completion of the Bianconeri’s domination in the league, he also had the opportunity to be a teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar who has often scored goals in the Champions League.
The second period ended, shortly after winning the Coppa Italia title at the age of 43, the record for the oldest winning player in the history of the competition. From Juventus, the decision to go home was again taken by Buffon when he (returned) to Parma. Although not always the first choice, the Gialloblu were able to be brought into the Play-Off semifinals for the 2022-2023 Serie B promotion.
A closing that almost turned sweet, because in August 2023, the legend decided to hang up his gloves. Not only at the club, in the Italian national team, Buffon has also had such a long journey. His name has been in the national team since the U-16 level in 1993, and began to emerge (along with Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti) when he won the U-21 Euro in 1996 under the tutelage of Cesare Maldini.
The following year, his debut in the senior Italian national team came, and it was the start of his long journey as a legendary Italian goalkeeper in the modern era. During his long journey with the Azzurri, various moments already said. Starting from being a backup keeper at the 1998 World Cup, missing Euro 2000 due to injury, losing dramatically at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, to winning the 2006 World Cup and reaching the Euro 2012 final as a breaking point.
During that time, 176 caps were recorded. A record for the most appearances in the Italian national team. Unfortunately, the legendary story of Gianluigi Buffon in the Italian national team ended in a bleak way, when La Nazionale failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. A moment that made Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG) begin to emerge as his successor in the Italian national team.
Even so, the long career of an admirer of Thomas N’Kono (legendary goalkeeper of the Cameroon national team) for almost three decades has become an epic story, and a positive example for young players. A great talent and high discipline have proven to be able to make a star player’s career so durable, even becoming one of the best players in his position, by making more than 1000 appearances in official matches.
However, the end of Gianluigi Buffon’s career also marked a cycle of evolution in the goalkeeper position. There is no longer enough space for classic type goalkeepers with high reflexes, because modern football requires many goalkeepers to be actively involved in playing, even scoring goals.
Therefore, we will probably see less and less a goalkeeper like Buffon, who is a classic and can play until his 40s. This is a real consequence, from modern football which is so intense, and at the same time proves, there is always a victim from an evolutionary cycle.
ASL
