Gianluigi Buffon is set to announce his retirement from professional football.
The legendary former Juventus and Italy goalkeeper has spent the last two seasons playing for boyhood club Parma in Serie B, making 43 appearances. He did sign a contract extension with Parma in February 2022 which would have taken his stay until next summer, but will instead call time on a 28-year career imminently.
Buffon, 45, began his career at Parma in 1995, playing 220 times for them before joining Juventus for a world-record fee for a goalkeeper.
The Italian spent 17 years at Juventus, winning nine Serie A titles and remaining with the club through their demotion to Serie B amid the Calciopoli scandal in the mid-2000s.
Buffon joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, spending just one season with the French side and winning Ligue 1.
He then returned to Juventus in 2019, playing primarily a back-up role with 29 appearances across two years, before his move back to Parma.
Buffon ended his Juventus career with 685 appearances, second on the club’s all-time list behind Alessandro Del Piero.
He does, though, hold the records for the most appearances in Serie A (648), the longest time in Serie A without conceding (974 minutes) and the most league titles in Serie A era (since 1927).
The goalkeeper also played for the Italian national team between 1997 and 2018 and is his country’s record appearance-maker, playing 176 times for the European nation and winning the World Cup in 2006.
