Gifted with high cheek bones and striking light blue eyes, Italian superstar Gianluigi Buffon may easily be mistaken as the face of a designer label. However, his success comes not from his looks, but in his ability as a dominant goalkeeper in Italian football. In fact, Gianluigi has earned the title of “Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year” eight times in a row. He has had the honor of being pronounced as among the 125 the greatest football players in the world by world renowned football star Pele, who is regarded as one of the best of all time. As a winner of the FIFA World Cup, Gianluigi Buffon has also been recognized by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics as the number one goalkeeper of our decade.
However, like most highly successful people in this world, Gianluigi Buffon’s prestige and fame did not just grow overnight. It all dated back to 1991 when he launched his career in Parma’s youth system at the very young age of thirteen. In 1995, at just seventeen, he was promoted from the youth squad to make his football debut at Serie A Parma against Milan. Following this match, he went on to make eight more team appearances within the same season. During his second football season in 1996, Gianluigi Buffon earned the starting goalkeeper position and made two hundred more appearances. By the time he played in his fourth season, he had already won the UEFA Cup and was taken on by Juventus, a famous professional football club, and was transferred for a whopping 32.6 million euros.
Gianluigi Buffon’s career then began to pick up tempo with his first season in Juventus, during which he played in forty five official matches. In 2003, he was awarded UEFA Champions League’s Most Valuable Player and Best Goalkeeper. He then made eighty six more appearances.
Despite these successes, Gianluigi Buffon soon discovered that life wasn’t going to be all fun and games. In August 2005, he suffered from a dislocated shoulder and was thrown to the sidelines after a necessary surgery. While medical attention proved successful, he did not play again until January due to yet another injury. In May 2006, Gianluigi Buffon and his fellow Juventus teammates found themselves caught in the midst of what is known as the Calciopoli sandal. He was implicated with illegal Serie A betting and faced a ban. While admitting to a habit of betting on sports, he denied doing so in regard to Italian football and was officially deemed as Italy’s starting goalkeeper for the FIFA World Cup that year.
On an international scale, Gianluigi Buffon’s career has proved successful as well. At nineteen, he was awarded his very first cup for Italy in 1997. He has also been the first choice goalkeeper of the Euro 2004s and the 2002 World Cup. He totaled a record breaking five clean sheets in FIFA World Cup 2006, and boasts a career total of six. Additionally, he holds a 453-minute scoreless streak and was named Italy captain for Euro 2008. Since then, he has taken the title of team captain on Italy’s national football team.
