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Legendary Italian goalkeeper Buffon retires / Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE - AFP/File
Legendary Italian goalkeeper Buffon retires
Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement on Wednesday at the age of 45.
"That's all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together," he posted in English on social media.
Buffon won 10 Serie A titles with Juventus but ended his stellar career back where it all started at Parma.
It was at Parma that he won his only European club trophy -- the 1999 UEFA Cup (now the Europa League) -- but retires without a Champions League winners medal having lost three times in the final with Juventus.
He also won a Ligue 1 crown with Paris Saint Germain in the 2018/19 season before he returned to Juventus for two more years.
Buffon holds the record for most Serie A matches contested (657) and is the most capped player in Italy's history with 176 (1997-2018).
That encompassed five World Cups which included the high of winning it in 2006 -- beating France on penalties -- to bowing out in the first round four years later.
(B.Hartmann--BBZ)
