Gianluigi Buffon will make history today with his 648th Serie A appearance, surpassing Paolo Maldini, but it’s far from the only all-time record he holds.
The 42-year-old goalkeeper recently signed a contract extension to June 2021, meaning he will be 43 years and five months old by the time it expires.
SuperGigi made his Serie A debut playing for Parma and kept a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw with Milan on November 19, 1995, when he was just 17 years, nine months and 22 days old.
Gianluigi Buffon will make history today with his 648th Serie A appearance, surpassing Paolo Maldini, but it’s far from the only all-time record he holds.
The 42-year-old goalkeeper recently signed a contract extension to June 2021, meaning he will be 43 years and five months old by the time it expires.
SuperGigi made his Serie A debut playing for Parma and kept a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw with Milan on November 19, 1995, when he was just 17 years, nine months and 22 days old.
Nevio Scala was the coach who gave him the nod when Luca Bucci was unavailable, as the teenager held out against Roberto Baggio, George Weah and Zvonimir Boban.
Also playing that day at the Stadio Tardini was the man whose record he is about to shatter: Maldini.
He has since played against the sons of former teammates, Federico Chiesa and Marcus Thuram, went straight from winning the 2006 World Cup to a season helping Juventus get out of Serie B following the Calciopoli scandal and had a campaign at Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 41.
In his 647 Serie A matches so far, Buffon kept 296 clean sheets and conceded 524 goals.
There was also one game in the Serie A play-off for Europe, when Parma lost 3-1 to Inter in May 2000, but that doesn’t qualify as a Serie A appearance.
The match tally is not his only record, as Buffon also holds the all-time longest unbeaten Serie A run for a goalkeeper, clocking in at 973 minutes.
Funnily enough, he also set that in a Turin Derby on March 20, 2016.
Buffon has won nine Serie A titles, also a record – not counting the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Scudetti that were revoked as part of Calciopoli – five editions of the Coppa Italia, six Italian Supercups, the UEFA Cup, Ligue 1 title, French Supercup and the Serie B championship.
This will be his 1,115th competitive game between club, international and youth levels, in which he conceded 920 goals.
It’ll be his 670th Juventus appearance in all competition and so far he has 316 clean sheets, conceding 527 goals.
At club level, he also played 220 games for Parma (keeping 85 clean sheets) and 25 for Paris Saint-Germain (nine clean sheets).