Favorite Birthday Boy #2

 Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon
From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

 Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon turns 36 today.

Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, Ufficiale OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒidʒi bufˈfon]; born 28 January 1978 in Carrara, Italy), is an Italian goalkeeper who plays for and captains both Serie A club Juventus and the Italian national team. Buffon is the record appearance holder for the Italian national football team, and he is widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is known for his "outstanding shot-stopping" and for being "a vocal organizer of the defense and a key dressing room personality."

 Buffon was declared by Pelé to be one of the 125 greatest living footballers in the world. He has been named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record eight times and was the winner of the 2006 Yashin Award following Italy's World Cup victory, in which Buffon was also elected to be part of the Team of the Tournament; an honor which he also received after reaching the final of the 2012 European Championships. Buffon is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award, which he won in 2003; he also won the award for best Goalkeeper that year and was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2006. In 2006, Buffon was runner-up for the Ballon d'Or and was elected to be part of the FIFPro World XI in 2006 and 2007.

He has been named the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) goalkeeper of the year four times and was named goalkeeper of the 21st century and of the decade by the same organization.

 Gianluigi Buffon was born into a family of Italian athletes. His mother, Maria Stella, was a discus thrower and his father, Adriano, was a weightlifter. Buffon’s two sisters, Veronica and Guendalina, played volleyball for the Italian National Volleyball Team, and his uncle, Dante Masocco, was a basketball player in Serie A1, who also represented the National Team. Former Inter, Milan and Italy Goalkeeper, Lorenzo Buffon, is a cousin of Gianluigi Buffon’s grandfather. Buffon is Catholic.

Buffon has two sons with his wife, Czech model Alena Šeredová. Buffon and Šeredová married in June 2011.  He was previously engaged to the sprinter of the Italy national athletics team, Vincenza Calì.