Italy Legend Gianluigi Buffon Calls Time On His Football Career

Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement from football on Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on a glorious career as one of the world's greatest ever goalkeepers. "That's all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together," he posted in English on social media. Buffon, 45, hangs up his gloves after two final years at Parma, the club where it all began nearly three decades ago when Italian football was Europe's gold standard. He had a contract which ran until next summer with Parma but he will no longer be a part of the Serie B club's bid to return to the top flight after two years away.

Buffon is a symbol of a halcyon age when the best footballers went to play in Serie A and Italy developed dozens of world class players.

The former Italy captain has a record 176 caps for his country while also holding the record for Serie A matches played -- 657, stretching back to 1995.

After bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old, keeping out the likes of George Weah and Roberto Baggio in his Parma debut against AC Milan, Buffon won 27 major trophies.

The majority came over 19 seasons at Juventus, where he won 10 Serie A titles, five Italian Cups, while he also won the UEFA Cup in 1999 for Parma as part of possibly the best team in the club's history.

He also won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2019 before returning to Juve, but he will be most fondly remembered for Italy's victory at the 2006 World Cup.

Buffon was one of the stars as an Azzurri team battered by the 'Calciopoli' match-fixing scandal -- which would cost him as Juve keeper two league titles -- beat France on penalties after knocking out hosts Germany in the semi-finals.

That was the last hurrah for a generation which had made Italy one