00:00It seems Gianluigi Buffon was always
00:02destined to don an Italian jersey.
00:06The only question was, which sport?
00:09His father was a weightlifter, his mother a discus thrower,
00:13and both his sisters played volleyball
00:15for Italy's national team.
00:19Buffon's foray into football began at Palmer's youth system
00:23at the age of 13.
00:24And despite playing as a midfielder in his younger days,
00:27he was inspired by the performance of Cameroon stopper Thomas
00:31and Kono during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
00:37Gigi was given his chance in the net when injury forced out
00:40both of Palmer's youth team keepers.
00:45In 1995, at 17, he made his Serie A debut with Palmer,
00:51winning a Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, and a UEFA Cup.
00:55And when he crossed to Juventus in 2001,
00:58it was for a world-record transfer fee of 54 million euros.
01:03There, his legacy blossomed.
01:06He won 22 trophies.
01:08His 974 minutes, without conceding a goal in 2015,
01:13to 16 set a new Serie A record.
01:15And he was Serie A's best goalkeeper 10 times,
01:18to go with two at Palmer.
01:22The match-fixing scandal that saw Juventus stripped of two Serie A titles
01:27and sent to Serie B only momentarily slowed his progress.
01:31While many stars departed without the slightest interest
01:34of slugging it out in a lower division,
01:36Buffon stuck with the club, a testament to his character.
01:42It was also during this time that he had his greatest triumph,
01:46the 2006 World Cup.
01:51Buffon bagged 40 saves, conceding just two goals for the whole tournament,
01:56an own goal from Christian Zaccato in the group stages,
01:59and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final.
02:02But he spectacularly kept out a Zidane header,
02:05in extra time to send the decider to penalties.
02:12Although he did not play a match at his first World Cup in 1998,
02:16Buffon equalled the record of taking part in five World Cups in Brazil 2014.
02:22He has also represented Italy in four European Championships,
02:26the 1996 Olympics, and owns the record for the most Italian caps.
02:34Many believe he should have joined Russian Lev Yashin as the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or.
02:40Instead, he was second behind his Italian team captain, Fabio Cannavaro.
02:48I believe it's the same as any other competition.
02:52If I did not win it, then maybe it's because I did not deserve it.
02:58I can live with that. I'm one of the things.
03:02Probably I gave my best to get them.
03:06If I don't win, it must be because I haven't been good enough.
03:15But he was good enough for the Azzurri when it counted most in 2006.
03:20And on football's greatest stage, that is all that matters.
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