Gianluigi Buffon has been a staple of top-level football since he made his Parma debut in 1995.
The Italian custodian has been a mainstay in the Italian top division since that faithful day, bar a brief interlude at PSG. Today, he overtook Paolo Maldini to become the all-time appearance holder in the Serie A, as Juventus defeated city rivals to close in on another Scudetto.
Should the Old Lady win another Serie A, it'd be Buffon's tenth at the club, which is an extraordinary achievement by any measure. He also held the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper until 2018, when the record was broken by Alisson's transfer to Liverpool and Kepa's transfer to Chelsea.
In his near 25 years in professional football, here are five statistics that prove that the 42 year-old is one of a kind.
1 - 185
As we mentioned before, Buffon made his Serie A debut for Parma in 1995, November 19 to be exact. That day, he kept a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw against eventual league champions AC Milan.
According to Transfermarkt, 185 players registered for this season's Serie A were born after that date. Not only is Buffon the oldest player in the Italian top tier, but his professional career is older than nearly 200 other players.
Just three of his Juventus teammates were born after his debut for Parma, Matt de Ligt, Rodrigo Bentancur and Merih Demirel.
2 - 4th All-Time
Gianluigi Buffon is currently sitting on 9 Serie A titles won, all during his tenure at Juventus.
This leaves the goalkeeper with more league titles than all Italian clubs bar three, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. Buffon's Scudetti haul leaves him level with Genoa, who last won Serie A all the way back in 1924.
3 - 1,090
Over the course of his career, Buffon has lined out 1,090 times in his professional career in all competitions.
Taking into account his club appearances at Parma, Juventus and PSG, coupled with his international exploits, the goalkeeper has over 1,000 appearances in total. That means that his 648 Serie A appearances account for 59.4 percent of his total career games.
The next highest appearance holder currently playing in Serie A is Inter Milan captain and goalkeeper, Samir Handanovic.
4 - 5 World Cups
Buffon is also part of an exclusive list of players that have taken part in five World Cups.
Buffon was named in Italy's squads for 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. He infamously retired after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, losing to Sweden in a playoff.
Only three other players have taken part in as many World Cups - Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Marquez of Mexico and Lothar Matthaus of Germany.
5 - 176
Buffon is, of course, Italy's record cap holder, with 176 appearances for the Azzurri.
Buffon was unfortunate in the early part of his career, contending for the number one jersey with the likes of Gianluca Pagliuca, Angelo Peruzzi and Francisco Toldo. However, amassing 176 caps in a 21 year career is nothing to be sniffed at.
This figure leaves Gianluigi Buffon sixth on the all-time international list, jus eight appearances behind leader Ahmed Hassan of Egypt. Buffon is the European leader in all-time international appearances, but Spain's Sergio Ramos is just six caps behind.
There are just five of a litany of statistics to illustrate the unique career of one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time.
Having overtaken Maldini for the Serie A appearances record, Buffon has also signed a new one-year deal at Juventus, meaning we get to see Buffon at the highest level in his 43rd year.
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