Gianluigi Buffon

Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, Ufficiale OMRI (born 28 January 1978 in Carrara, Italy), is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. He has won the FIFA World Cup and is widely considered by fans and experts to be one of the most dominant and successful goalkeepers in history. Buffon was declared by Pelé to be one of the 125 greatest living footballers in the world. He has been named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record eight times and he has also been named the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) goalkeeper of the decade.

Parma

Buffon began his career with the youth system of Parma in 1991 at the age of 13. He graduated from the youth squad in 1995 and at the young age of just 17, Gianluigi made his Serie A debut for Parma in a 0–0 home draw against Milan on 19 November 1995. He went on to make 8 more first team appearances that season. In 1996, his second full season with the club, Buffon was named as the starting goalkeeper and would go on to make well over 200 appearances for his club in all competitions. In his fourth season with the club, he won the UEFA Cup. He was by this time, already considered a major prospect and in the summer of 2001, he was snatched up by Italian giants Juventus for a world-record goalkeeper's transfer fee of a reported £32.6 million, with part of the transfer fees paid via the transfer of Jonathan Bachini to Parma.

Juventus

Buffon transferred from Parma to Juventus in summer of 2001. It was rumoured that Buffon nearly signed with Roma in 2001 following his departure from Parma but then club president Franco Sensi instead opted to spend the money on Atalanta keeper Ivan Pelizzoli and Antonio Cassano. Buffon was again linked with Roma in 2006, but the goalkeeper later commented "That was never a possibility really... I don't think that Roma had the finances to make an investment of such a nature."

In his first season with Juventus, Buffon was immediately inserted into the starting eleven and appeared in 45 official matches, helping his team to the Serie A title. He totaled 47 appearances the following season, also helping Juventus to the UEFA Champions League Final, only for his team to lose in a penalty shoot-out to Milan, although they did celebrate the Scudetto that season yet again. In 2003, he received the UEFA Most Valuable Player and Best Goalkeeper awards, and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. In his third season with the club, Buffon again was the undisputed starter making 38 appearances, and in his fourth season at Juve, he amounted for 48 more appearances as well as his third Scudetto in four years with the Turin giants.

In August 2005, during the annual Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi match against Milan, Buffon collided with Milan midfielder Kaká while chasing a loose ball, and suffered a dislocated shoulder that required surgery. His operation was successful and he returned to the pitch in November, but played only once as another injury returned him to the sidelines until January. Christian Abbiati was transferred to the club, to fill in for the injury-stricken Buffon, however he did recover in time to help lead Juventus to their second consecutive Scudetto and his fourth overall with the club.

On 12 May 2006, Buffon, along with Juventus teammate and fellow goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti along with many other players, were implicated as participants in illegal betting on Serie  matches while with Parma. The following day, he voluntarily allowed himself to be questioned by Turin magistrates in an attempt to clear his name. While admitting that he did bet on sports (until regulations went into effect in late 2005, banning players from doing so), he vehemently denied placing wagers on Italian football matches. Fears arose that he had jeopardized his chance of playing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but he was officially named Italy's starting goalkeeper on 15 May. The players were cleared of all charges by the FIGC on 27 June 2007. Following Juventus' punishment in the Calciopoli scandal, rumours spread that Juventus were shopping Buffon on the transfer market as a cost-cutting measure, and many teams became interested in his services. However, no deals ever materialized as Buffon elected to remain with Juventus; his agent said, "Serie B is a division he has never won and he wants to try to do this." On April 2007, Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani stated that Buffon's decision to stay proved a catalyst in re-signing incumbent Dida, though Buffon later denied having ever been contacted by Milan.

After Juventus won the Cadetti and were promoted back into the top flight, Buffon signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2012.

Buffon was still in his best form for the 2007–08 Serie A season, as he helped Juventus to a third place finish as well as UEFA Champions League qualification in their first season back. In 2008–09 Serie A, Buffon was again sidelined by several injuries, having problems with his back but principally a bad groin strain and a pulled muscle. From September through January, new Juventus reserve keeper Alexander Manninger held his position between the sticks, and gained a lot of praise for his deputizing. Because of this and Juventus's poor form towards the end of the season, as Buffon was seen despondent as the team drew Lecce and Atalanta, there were further rumours that Buffon was upset and wanted to leave. He admitted he was upset but had no intentions to leave. After a discussion with management, he said he was reassured about the future of Juventus and signed a year extension to 2013. In the 2010–11 Serie A season Buffon didn't play the first half as he recovered from surgery from an injury in the World Cup, but when he came back he put in some very good performances.

International Career

Buffon was awarded his first cap for Italy on 29 October 1997, at the age of nineteen, as an injury replacement for Gianluca Pagliuca during the first leg of the '98 World Cup qualification play-off against Russia played in Moscow. Then, he was called up for the 1998 World Cup finals, but did not play a single game as Pagliuca remained first choice. Buffon became the first choice goalkeeper of the Italian national team soon after. He was the first choice goalkeeper at the Euro 2000, but he broke his hand in a friendly match against Norway just few days before the tournament started and he had his starting place taken by backup goalkeeper Francesco Toldo.

Buffon took part with the Italy squad at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

During the 2006 World Cup finals, Buffon was in stunning form, as he conceded just two goals and kept five clean sheets, in addition to a 453-minute scoreless streak. The only goals he conceded were an own goal by teammate Cristian Zaccardo against the United States and a Zinedine Zidane penalty in the final against France, which ended 1–1 in extra-time and led to a penalty shootout in which neither Buffon nor Fabien Barthez saved a spot kick. The lone miss was David Trezeguet's effort which clanged off the bottom of the crossbar and failed to cross the line, which enabled Italy's Fabio Grosso to seal the victory for the Azzuri.Buffon received the Yashin Award for his accomplishments throughout the competition. Buffon recorded five clean sheets in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and has a career total of six.

Buffon was named Italy captain for Euro 2008 after incumbent Fabio Cannavaro was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. In the second game of the group stage against Romania on 13 June, he saved an 81st minute penalty from Adrian Mutu as the match ended 1–1 to keep Italy's hopes alive. Buffon kept a clean sheet against France in the final group game. Italy were eliminated in the quarter-finals nine days later after a 4–2 penalty shootout loss to Spain in which Buffon saved one penalty.

In the 2010 World Cup, Buffon was replaced at half-time in Italy's 1–1 draw in their opening group stage match against Paraguay after he had a problem with his sciatic nerve, and did not play again in the tournament.

After the international retirement of Cannavaro, Buffon became the new captain of the national team. On 9 February 2011, after recovering from a back injury, Buffon played his first game as official captain in the friendly match against Germany played in Dortmund.

Personal Life

Gianluigi Buffon was born into an athletic family: his mother, Maria Stella, was a discus thrower; his father, Adriano, was a weightlifter; his two sisters Veronica and Guendalina played volleyball and his uncle, Dante Masocco, played basketball. Goalkeeping legend Lorenzo Buffon is a cousin of Gianluigi's grandfather.

Buffon had two sons with his long-time girlfriend Czech model Alena Šeredová: Louis Thomas (born December 28, 2007) and David Lee (born October 31, 2009). They married in June 2011. His older son is named after Thomas N'Kono, whom Buffon idolized as a youngster.