Gianluigi Buffon,[2][3] Ufficiale OMRI[4] (Italian pronunciation: [dʒanluˈiːdʒi bufˈfɔn, -fon],

Venetian: [buˈfoŋ]; born 28 January 1978), commonly shortened to Gigi Buffon, is an Italian
professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He is
widely regarded by players, pundits and managers as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time,
[nb 1]
and, by some, as the greatest ever.[nb 2]

At club level, Buffon's professional career began with Parma in 1995, where he made his Serie A
debut. He soon earned a reputation as one of the most promising young goalkeepers in Italy, and
helped Parma win the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Supercoppa Italiana, in 1999. After
joining Juventus in 2001 for the world record fee for a goalkeeper of €52 million at the time,
Buffon won Serie A titles in both of his first two seasons at the club, and established himself as
one of the best players in the world in his position. With Juventus, he won a record nine Serie A
titles,[nb 3] as well as four Coppa Italia titles, and five Supercoppa Italiana titles. After 17 years
with Juventus, Buffon signed with French club Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 40 in 2018,
where he immediately won the Trophée des Champions in his first season with the team.

With 176 international caps, Buffon is the most capped player in the history of the Italy national
team, the fourth-most capped footballer of all time, and the most capped European international
player ever; Buffon also holds the record most appearances for Italy as captain after he inherited
the armband following the departure of Fabio Cannavaro in 2010. Buffon was called up for a
record of five FIFA World Cup tournaments (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) since making his
debut in 1997; he was an unused substitute in the 1998 edition. He was the starting goalkeeper of
the squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He also represented Italy at four
European Championships, at the 1996 Olympics, and at two FIFA Confederations Cups, winning
a bronze medal in the 2013 edition of the tournament. He retired from international football in
2017, after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, although he later came out of
retirement for the team's friendlies the following year, before officially confirming his
international retirement in May 2018.

Buffon was the runner-up for the Ballon d'Or in 2006, and was elected to be part of the FIFPro
World XI, an honour which he also achieved two more times. He is the first goalkeeper ever to
win the Golden Foot Award, which pertains to both personality and playing ability. He was the
first goalkeeper ever to win the Serie A Footballer of the Year award, and was also named the
Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record 12 times. He was named the IFFHS World's Best
Goalkeeper a record five times, alongside Iker Casillas, and was also named the best goalkeeper
of the 21st century, of the past 25 years, and of the decade, by the same organisation. He holds
the record for the most clean sheets in Serie A, and with the Italy national team; he also holds the
record for the longest streak without conceding a goal in Serie A history: over 12 league matches,
he went unbeaten for 974 consecutive minutes during the 2015–16 season, as well as having
achieved the most consecutive clean sheets (10) in Serie A in that same season. He is also one of
only twenty-five players to have made at least 1,000 professional career appearances. He was
named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004. Following his
2006 World Cup victory with Italy, where he kept a record five clean sheets, he won the Yashin
Award, in which he was also elected to be part of the Team of the Tournament; an honour which
he also received after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2008 European Championship, and the
final of the 2012 European Championship. Buffon is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA
Club Footballer of the Year Award, which he won after reaching the 2003 UEFA Champions
League Final; he also won the award for best Goalkeeper that year, and was voted into the UEFA
Team of the Year five times. After reaching the 2015 and 2017 Champions League finals, he was
named to the Champions League Squad of the Season on both occasions, and also won the
inaugural The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award in the latter year.