Lorenzo Buffon (, ; born 19 December 1929) is an Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Throughout his career, he played 277 times for Italian club

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

, and also later played for their city rivals

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, as well as other Italian clubs, winning five

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

titles. At the international level, he was capped for the Italian international side on 15 occasions, representing his country at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

. Buffon is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and as one of Italy's greatest ever goalkeepers. Alongside goalkeeper

Lev Yashin Lev Ivanovich Yashin (russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990), nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther", was a Soviet professional footballer regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper in the hi ...

, he was chosen to represent the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

All-Star squad during the 1960s.

Club career

Born in Majano, in the

province of Udine The province of Udine ( it, provincia di Udine, fur, provincie di Udin, sl, videmska pokrajina, Resian dialect, Resian: , german: Provinz Weiden) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia of Italy, borderi ...

, overall, Buffon played 15 seasons (365 games) in the

for

(1949–59),

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

( 1959–60),

(1960–63), and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

( 1963–64). He began his career with

Portogruaro Portogruaro ( vec, Porto, fur, Puart) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. The city is the centre of a district, made up of 11 ''comuni'', which form the Venezia Orientale with the San Donà di Piav ...

in 1948 before moving to Milan the following season. With Milan, he made his Serie A debut on 15 January 1950, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 home win over

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

; he played 277 games for the club, and gained international prominence as he won four

titles, and two

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

s, despite competition for a place in the starting line-up with fellow keeper

Narciso Soldan Narciso Soldan (11 December 1927, Nervesa della Battaglia, Veneto – 30 July 1987, Conegliano, Veneto) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Italian Football League. Career Soldan began his playing career at ...

. With Milan, Buffon also reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

1957–58 European Cup The 1957–58 European Cup was the third season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, who beat Milan 3–2 in the final, following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes. This was Real Madri ...

, and the semi-finals of the

1955–56 European Cup The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The tournament was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Stade de Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956. The ...

, where the Italian club was defeated by eventual champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

on both occasions. With 300 appearances for Milan, he is one of only four goalkeepers in the club's history to have reached this milestone, behind only

Christian Abbiati Christian Abbiati (born 8 July 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Abbiati, who had been with AC Milan since 1998, started his career with Monza, and later played more than 300 official matches for Mil ...

(380),

Sebastiano Rossi Sebastiano Rossi (born 20 July 1964) is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During a 21-year professional career, he appeared in 346 Serie A games, most notably representing A.C. Milan (12 seasons) with which ...

(330), and

Dida In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) is an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14-16). DiDA was introduc ...

(302). In his later career, Buffon first joined Genoa for a season in 1959, and subsequently moved to Milan's cross-city rivals Inter in 1960, on both occasions as a replacement for his perceived career rival,

Giorgio Ghezzi Giorgio Ghezzi (; 11 July 1930 – 12 December 1990), nicknamed "Kamikaze", was an Italian football manager and player who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Born in Cesenatico, Ghezzi started his career at Rimini in 1947 and later played for ...

, who had instead joined Buffon's former club Milan in 1959. With Inter, Buffon won another Serie A title during the 1962–63 season under manager

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentine, naturalized French, football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success with the Inter Milan team known as ''Grande Inter'' in the 1960s. During ...

, who would coach Inter to greater domestic and European successes in later years. During his three seasons with Inter, he also reached the semi-finals of the 1960–61 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, although his best placement in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

was a quarter-final finish. In total, Buffon won five Serie A titles throughout his career. After spending a season with Fiorentina, making only a single appearance in the league, he retired after a season with

Ivrea Ivrea (; pms, Ivrèja ; ; lat, Eporedia) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it stradd ...

in 1965.

International career

Buffon was also

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

15 times for the Italy national team between 1958 and 1962; he made his international debut in a 2–2 friendly home draw against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, on 9 September 1958, and later represented his country as their

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and starting goalkeeper in the

in Chile. He made two appearances throughout the tournament, keeping two clean sheets in a 0–0 draw against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, and in a 3–0 win over

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 7 June, his final international appearance, while he was replaced in goal by

Carlo Mattrel Carlo Mattrel (; 14 April 1937 – 25 September 1976) was an Italian footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. During his career, he was regarded as one of the top goalkeepers in Italy, and had a highly successful career at club level playing for ...

for Italy's second group match against hosts

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, which ended in a 2–0 defeat. Italy were controversially eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

Style of play

An athletic yet effective and reliable goalkeeper, Buffon was known in particular for his positional sense, handling, and efficient style of goalkeeping, which enabled him to produce acrobatic saves without having to resort to histrionics; his spectacular shot-stopping abilities earned him the nickname ''Lorenzo il Magnifico''. Although he was a fairly tall and physically strong keeper, he was less effective at coming off his line to collect crosses, and performed better between the posts. Despite his reputation as a generally solid and world-class keeper, he was also occasionally criticised throughout his career for being inconsistent, and for his mindset, as well as for letting his mentality affect his performances at times.

Personal life

Following his retirement from professional football, Buffon worked as a youth talent scout for Milan. He is related to goalkeeper

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

; Lorenzo is a cousin of Gianluigi's grandfather. Lorenzo is also remembered for his marriage to Italian actress and television personality

Edy Campagnoli Edda "Edy" Campagnoli (; 12 June 1934 – 6 February 1995) was an Italian television personality and actress. Life and career Born in Milan, Campagnoli started her career as a runway model after World War II. In 1954 she played Venus in the op ...

, who had previously been in a relationship with his perceived career rival,

Honours

A.C. Milan *

: 1950–51, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59 *

: 1951, 1956 Inter Milan *

: 1962–63 Individual *

FIFA XI FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

: 1963 * A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

Profile at enciclopediadelcalcio.it

FIGC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffon, Lorenzo 1929 births Living people People from Majano Italian footballers Association football goalkeepers Italy international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players A.S.D. Portogruaro players A.C. Milan players Genoa C.F.C. players Inter Milan players ACF Fiorentina players A.S.D. Calcio Ivrea players Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia Lorenzo