Football: Italy, Juventus great Gianluigi Buffon announces retirement after 28-year long career

Italy great Gianluigi Buffon, one of the most decorated goalkeepers of all time, called time on his 28-year long career in a social media post. The 45-year-old's retirement announcement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, read, "That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together." Have a look at the tweet here:

The 2006 FIFA World Cup winner had a sensational career which saw him winning 10 Serie A titles, one Ligue 1 trophy, five Coppa Italia and six Italia Supercoppa titles as well. The Italian legend had made his professional debut with Serie B club Parma at the age of 17. Buffon's last two years of professional football also came with Parma.

He won Coppa Italia, UEFA Cup and Italian Supercoppa with the club (Parma) four years after joining it in 1995. The goalie then moved to Juventus in 2001 for the then-world-record transfer fee of $57 million.

While at Juventus, he had best time of his playing career, winning 10 Serie A titles and a Serie B as well during 2006-07 relegation of the club to the second tier. He moved to Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain in 2018 as a free agent and won his only Ligue 1 title. He, however, returned to Juventus next season.

With Juve, Buffon reached the Champions League final thrice but failed to win the elusive trophy even once.

As an international player, Buffon holds the record of most caps for Italy with 176 appearances. In 2006, the year Italy won the FIFA World Cup, Buffon was also named as a contender for the prestigious Balllon d'Or.

The goalkeeper, however, finished as runner-up behind his Italy teammate Fabio Cannavaro. He hung boots from national duty in 2017 after playing for nearly 20 years since his debut in 1997.

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