Gianluigi Buffon Biography

Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon (Italian pronunciation: [dʒanluˈiːdʒi bufˈfɔn], Ufficiale OMRI; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains Serie A club Juventus and the Italy national team. 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] 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 also the first goalkeeper ever to win the Serie A Footballer of the Year award, and has also been named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record 12 times. He has also been 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. Buffon has won 21 trophies in his career, including eight Serie A titles, one Serie B title, four Coppa Italia titles, six Supercoppa Italiana titles, one UEFA Cup title and one FIFA World Cup title. 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.