Gianluigi Buffon is unanimously considered the best goalkeeper in the world, but only after his retirement it will be possible to say if he was, as it seems, one of the strongest ones ever. He seemed immediately predestined to become what he is now: “Gigi” worked his way through the youth ranks at Parma that signed him as a professional player at the age of 17 in 1995, going on to make his Serie A debut for the club against AC Milan that year and winning the UEFA Cup with Parma in 1999. Buffon went on to make 168 appearances for Parma while building a reputation as one of Europe's best young goalkeeping talents and it wasn't long until the major clubs started looking his way. Juventus won the auction for Buffon's services in 2001 and paid Parma a world record fee of over £32m for the 23- year- old goalie. Personal prizes such as UEFA's Most Valuable Player Award and Best Goalkeeper Awards have continued to add to Buffon's trophy cabinet alongside notable club and international successes as the Scudetto (Italian national title) with Juventus and a World Cup victory with Italy in 2006.
The Calciopoli (match-fixing) scandal which saw Juventus relegated to Serie B did not scare Buffon away from the club and he duly helped his club to the Serie B title in 2006/2007 as they battled their way back to Serie A in only one season. Buffon's international career began at the age of 19 when he replaced injured Gianluca Pagliuca between the goalposts but it was to be a few years before he made the position his own. Buffon's greatest career triumph has to be the 2006 World Cup during which he kept a 453-minute scoreless streak as he helped Italy to propel towards the World Cup glory.