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Italian keeper Buffon hangs up his gloves after 28 years

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 Coppa Italia - Final - Atalanta v Juventus - Mapei Stadium - Citta del Tricolore, Reggio Emilia, Italy - May 19, 2021 Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon during the match REUTERS/Alberto Lingria/File Photo

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has retired from football, the 45-year-old announced on Wednesday, after 28 years in which he reached exceptional milestones for club and country.

Buffon, who in 2006 lifted the World Cup, won 10 Serie A titles with Juventus and a Ligue 1 title with Paris St Germain.

“That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together,” Buffon said in a statement.

Buffon is the most capped goalkeeper in history, having played 176 times for Italy.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest keepers of all time, he ended his career where he started, at Parma who are in the Italian second tier, having struggled with injuries in his final season.

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Buffon joined Juve from Parma in 2001 and spent most of his career with the club, except for a season at PSG in 2018-19, before returning to Turin and then to Parma in June 2021.

Kylian Mbappe, who played with Buffon in Paris, paid tribute to the keeper.

“It’s a huge honour for me to have had the chance to rub shoulders with you and cross paths with your legendary career,” Mbappe posted on messaging platform X, previously known as Twitter.

“(You are) a man of gold with invaluable advice that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Buffon began his career in Parma’s youth system in 1991 aged 13, initially playing in midfield before moving to the role of goalkeeper due to his height and physical attributes.

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He made his Serie A debut for Parma in a goalless draw against AC Milan in November 1995 at the age of 17.

Buffon, 1.92 metres tall, played a record 657 times in the Italian top flight and was UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2003.

He retired from international football in 2018 after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Time has been called on what is simply an exceptional career, an exceptional man and one of the world’s most celebrated players,” Serie A said in a post.

“You’ve been unique. And you always will be. I can’t even find the words to describe what you’ve been, what you taught me, what you gave me. Thanks, my friend,” Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci wrote on Instagram.

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-Reuters

 

 

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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International Football

Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health

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Brasileiro Championship - Gremio v Flamengo - Arena do Gremio, Porto Alegre, Brazil - September 22, 2024 Flamengo coach Tite REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo

Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.

The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.

“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.

“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.

“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”

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Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.

-Reuters

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Brazil sack coach Dorival after humiliating loss to Argentina

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World Cup - South American Qualifiers - Argentina v Brazil - Estadio Mas Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina - March 25, 2025 Brazil coach Dorival Junior is seen before the match REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File Photo

Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.

The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.

“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.

“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.

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Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.

However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.

Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.

Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.

But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.

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Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.

Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.

Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.

Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.

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Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.

Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.

Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.

They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.

-Reuters

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England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game

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England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.

Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.

“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.

Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.

However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.

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“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.

-Reuters

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