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Gianluigi Buffon: from Juventus back to the beginning
Photo:
Federico Tardito / Insidefoto / imago images / Insidefoto
"I'm back": In a video, goalkeeper legend Gianluigi Buffon announced his return to the Italian football club Parma Calcio.
The 43-year-old had previously played for Juventus Turin for almost 20 years with a short break.
In May he announced that he would be leaving the Bianconeri at the end of the season, but initially left his future open.
Now, as was previously speculated, he signed a two-year contract with Parma.
In the video released by his new old club, Buffon enters the Tardini stadium and opens a box buried in the ground containing the Parma jersey and a Superman outfit.
"He's back home," writes the club: #Superman Returns
The long-time national goalkeeper had once started his professional career in the northern Italian city.
Between 1995 and 2001 Buffon was in Tor Parmas.
At the age of 17 he made his debut in the Italian Serie A against AC Milan.
In the 1998/99 season he won the Uefa Cup and the Italian Cup for the club.
In 2001 he finally moved to Turin.
In 2006 Buffon became world champion with the Italian national team in Germany.
Parma will play second class again in the coming season.
The team had finished the previous Serie A season as bottom of the table and was relegated.
The predecessor club AC Parma belonged to the European elite in the 1990s, won the European Cup Winners' Cup once (1993), the UEFA Cup twice (1995, 1999) and also won the national cup three times (1992, 1999, 2002).
sak / sid / dpa