With a win in Saturday’s Champions League final, Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will surpass compatriot Paolo Maldini as the oldest player to ever lift the trophy at the age of 39. For decades the shot-stopper has arguably been the best in the world at his trade, collecting nearly all the team and individual awards the sport has to offer and showing us what it means to give your all to a cause with loyalty, heart and professionalism.
Buffon has cemented his status as a god-like figure in Italy and in greater soccer culture. But just how long has the Italian icon been at this pursuit of excellence? Buffon made his first team debut with Parma on November 19, 1995, which means his career at the highest level of soccer is older than…
Woody, Buzz and the the rest of the talking toy gang didn't capture hearts around the world until November 22, 1995 — 3 days after Buffon's debut against A.C. Milan.
In the summer of 1996, a British pop group taught listeners a valuable lesson: "If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends". At this same moment, Buffon prepped for his first season as a starter and just his second season in Serie A.
The first episode revolving around the life of a lovable anthropomorphic advark aired on October 7, 1996. In 2016, Arthur's angry fist made a pop culture resurgence and, just like Buffon, proved that some things just get better with age.
You read that right: Gianluigi Buffon has been playing first team football longer than MLS has been in existence. The highest tier of soccer in the U.S. and Canada was technically founded in 1993, but the first season did not occur until 1996.
The search engine that has become such an integral part of our lives was just in its embryonic stages in January 1996 when it began as the research project of two Stanford PhD students. Google wasn't officially funded and incorporated until 1998, by which time Buffon had already gotten his first taste of Champions League football.
This historic franchise has nothing on the Italian either. The first Pokémon media, Pokémon Red and Green, was released on February 27, 1996.
Buffon's first team career is older than the Motorola StarTAC, the first "flip phone."
The iPhones and Androids of the current age make this clumsy contraption feel like an artifact that belongs in the Smithsonian. The first flip phone, called the StarTAC, was invented by Motorola in 1996.
