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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

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

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, 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 Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, as well as other Italian clubs, winning five

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

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 7th 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 between ...

. 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 (; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990) was a Soviet professional footballer considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was the first and only goalkeeper to win a Ballon d'Or, a feat whi ...

, he was chosen to represent the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

All-Star squad during the 1960s.

Club career

Born in Majano, in the

province of Udine The province of Udine (; ; ; ; ) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia, with the capital in the city of Udine. Abolished on 30 September 2017, it was reestablished in 2019 as the Re ...

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

for

(1949–59),

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

( 1959–60),

(1960–63), and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

( 1963–64). He began his career with

Portogruaro Portogruaro (, ) 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 Piave district. History ...

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, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

; 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 official 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 launch the competition ...

s, despite competition for a place in the starting line-up with fellow keeper Narciso Soldan. With Milan, Buffon also reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

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, in extra time following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes. This ...

, 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. It was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956. UEFA had been officially ...

, where the Italian club was defeated by eventual champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

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 AC Milan (12 seasons) with which he ...

(330), and

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

(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 Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

, 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 The third Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the first to be played over a single season, namely the 1960–61 season. Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as ...

, although his best placement in the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

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 (; ; ; ) 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 straddles the Dora Baltea and is ...

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 e ...

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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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 or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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 was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and in a 3–0 win over

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 7 June, his final international appearance, while he was replaced in goal by Carlo Mattrel for Italy's second group match against hosts

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, 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 former goalkeeper

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

; Lorenzo is the second cousin of Gianluigi's grandfather. Lorenzo is also remembered for his marriage to Italian actress and television personality Edy Campagnoli, who had previously been in a relationship with his perceived career rival,

Honours

AC Milan *

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

: 1951, 1956 Inter Milan *

: 1962–63 Individual * FIFA XI: 1963 * AC Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

Profile at enciclopediadelcalcio.it

FIGC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffon, Lorenzo 1929 births Living people People from Majano Footballers from the Province of Udine Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Italy men's international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Portogruaro Calcio ASD players AC Milan players Genoa CFC players Inter Milan players ACF Fiorentina players ASD Calcio Ivrea players

Lorenzo Lorenzo may refer to: People * Lorenzo (name) Places Peru * San Lorenzo Island (Peru), sometimes referred to as the island of Lorenzo United States * Lorenzo, Illinois * Lorenzo, Texas * San Lorenzo, California, formerly Lorenzo * Lorenzo State ...

20th-century Italian sportsmen