World Cup

Gianluigi Buffon "99.9% certain" of retirement date

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 12 June 2017

Gianluigi Buffon will retire from football at the end of next season unless he helps Juventus to end their Champions League hoodoo.

Juventus and Italy legend Gianluigi Buffon has revealed that he is almost certain next year's World Cup finals will be his last taste of professional football.

The 39-year-old had always intended to bow out of international football at the end of the tournament in Russia, which the Azzurri remain on course to reach.

Buffon will enter the final year of his contract at Juventus next season and has also now suggested that he is ready to call it quits, bringing an end to a remarkable career that has seen him win 14 major honours for club and country, although if he ends his Champions League hoodoo he may be tempted to stay on.

"I'm 99.9% certain of retirement," he told Sky Sport 24. "I'm going to have one final, intense season, rich in big moments, and then it will be time to say enough is enough.

"We've just left one small possibility open with the president (Andrea Agnelli). That is if we manage to win the Champions League I will carry on playing one more year to try to win the Club World Cup and other trophies."

Buffon lost a third Champions League final nine days ago as Real Madrid beat his Juventus side 4-1 at the National Stadium of Wales.