Sebastiano Siviglia
Sebastiano Siviglia is a former Italian footballer who played as a defender. Throughout his career, Siviglia played over 250 matches in the Italian Serie A for several clubs, in particular Lazio, where he made over 150 league appearances. Born in Palizzi, the Province of Reggio Calabria, Siviglia started his senior career at Audax Ravagnese, a Serie D club located in Ravagnese, Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, he spent 3 seasons at Parma, located in Emilia–Romagna region, northern Italy. Siviglia moved to Serie D side Nocerina in 1993, which finished as runner-up with the Campania side in Group H and promoted to professional football, he promoted again. Siviglia finished the third in Group B with Nocerina but lost to Ascoli in promotion playoffs first round. In 1996, he was signed by Serie A side Verona, he played the first Serie A match on 22 September 1996 against Fiorentina as starter, which the Veneto side lost 0–2 to la viola. He played 30 league matches that season, followed the team relegated to Serie B.
In 1998, he was signed by newly relegated league rival Atalanta, in exchange with Paolo Foglio, won promotion back to Serie A in 2000 as the 4th. He finished seventh in 2000–01 Serie A season with the Lombardy side, but was provisionally banned 2 months for suspected match-fixing along with team-mate Fabio Gallo and Luciano Zauri; the ban cleared in May 2001. Siviglia returned to squad on 13 May, against Roma. Roma maintained 5 points lead that round and won the Scudetto. On 19 May 2001, Roma agreed to sign Siviglia which Siviglia's contract was reported would expire on 30 June and announced on 6 July But he failed to play regularly, he made his UEFA Champions League debut there, on 30 October 2001 against R. S. C. Anderlecht, as starting XI along with Cafu and Samuel. On 30 June 2002, the last day of the 2001–02 fiscal year, he was re-signed by Parma in exchange with Luigi Sartor. Sartor was priced €9.5 million and Siviglia priced €9 million. Roma swapped their backup players and youth players for inflated price with other clubs, in order to gain false "profit".
As both club got value added on the players they sell, which gave "profit" by selling players, but they were false "profit" because they turned all the revenue they sell to buy registration rights from opposite side with inflated price, but as the cost was amortized proportionally during the player contract, which still appeared profit in the first fiscal year balance sheet. Roma fined €60,000 by Criminal Court of Rome for irregularity on youth players transfers only on 30 October 2007, but the Chairman of both clubs acquitted the false accounting. And inflate the price and cross-trading itself are not illegal, prosecutor failed to prove the purpose behind is illegal against the clubs. Siviglia only played twice for Parma before returned to Atalanta in December 2002 for their Serie A campaign. In August 2003, he left for another Serie A side Lecce, where he partnered with the rising star Cesare Bovo, which one of the few youth players sold by Roma in 2002 and not a flop. Both players was shined again, which Siviglia joined Lazio on loan.
Although aged 31, Siviglia started to play as a regular for a big club, as Lazio only had Fernando Couto, Paolo Negro and Massimo Oddo remained and Jaap Stam, Siniša Mihajlović and Giuseppe Favalli had left the club. He played 29 league matches that season, 4 2004–05 UEFA Cup matches, 3 as starting XI, out of possible 6. On 31 August 2005, the loan deal became permanent, cost €610,000 only for Lazio He signed a 3-year contract. Prior to join Lazio, he played two matches for Parma as starter. Couto joined Parma on free transfer. Siviglia was selected by Delio Rossi along with Cribari as central defender pair and secured sixth place for the club, he only missed a few matches due to injury, likes in round 7. and suspended in round 22 & 23. But due to 2006 Italian football scandal, Lazio deducted 30 points in 2005–06 season and 3 points in next season, ruled the biancocelesti out of European competition. In 2006–07 season, Lazio finished 3rd, marked the return to UEFA Champions League; that season, Siviglia played 32 Serie A matches, 31 as starter and sent off 2 times and thus suspended twice.
He was injured due to a muscle injury in his left thigh and missed the round 28 match. At the start of 2007–08 season, he was injured in a friendly match But he was offered a new contract which last until June 2010. After he played the first league match of the season on 23 October as starter, he suffered complained of pain and did a surgery. On 25 November, he played 90 + minutes against his former club Parma. 3 days on 28 November, he played his first UEFA Champions League match and the second in his career, against Olympiakos, the match lost 1–2 at home. He only missed round 18 and 36 due to suspension, rested against Parma on round 34, he played the last group stage match against Real Madrid after they lost to Olympiacos. He was not call-up to the match before the Coppa Italia semi-final but played the full match on 7 May the 0–2 lost to Internazionale at the Cup. After that match, his season was pre-mature and not call-up to round 37 due to injury and not call-up to the last match against Napoli as Lazio not quali
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi is an Italian media tycoon and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments. Berlusconi is the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owned the Italian football club A. C. Milan from 1986 to 2017, he is nicknamed Il Cavaliere for his Order of Merit for Labour, although he voluntarily resigned from this order in March 2014. In 2018, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 190th richest man in the world with a net worth of US$8.0 billion. In 2009, Forbes ranked him 12th in the List of The World's Most Powerful People due to his domination of Italian politics, throughout more than twenty years at the head of the centre-right coalition. Berlusconi was Prime Minister for nine years in total, making him the longest serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy, the third longest-serving since Italian unification, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti, he was the leader of the centre-right party Forza Italia from 1994 to 2009, its successor party The People of Freedom from 2009 to 2013.
Since November 2013, he has led a revived Forza Italia. Berlusconi was the senior G8 leader from 2009 until 2011 and he holds the record for hosting G8 Summits. After serving nearly 19 years as member of the Chamber of Deputies, Italy's lower house, after the 2013 general election he became a member of the Senate. On 1 August 2013, he was convicted of tax-fraud by the court of final instance, Court of Cassation, confirming his four-year prison sentence along with a public office ban for two years; as his age exceeded 70 years, he was exempted from direct imprisonment, instead served his sentence by doing unpaid social community work. Because he had been sentenced to a gross imprisonment for more than two years, a new Italian anti-corruption law led to the Senate expelling and barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years. Berlusconi has pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban. Berlusconi still remains a controversial figure who divides political analysts.
Berlusconi was the first person to assume the premiership without having held any prior government or administrative offices. He is known for brash, overbearing personality. In his long tenure, he was accused of being an authoritarian leader and a strongman. Supporters emphasize his leadership skills and charismatic power, his fiscal policy based on tax reduction, his ability to maintain strong and close foreign relations with both the United States and Russia. In general, critics address his performance as a politician, the ethics of his government practices in relation to his business holdings. Issues with the former include accusations of having mismanaged the state budget and of increasing the Italian government debt; the second criticism concerns his vigorous pursuit of his personal interests while in office, including benefitting from his own companies' growth due to policies promoted by his governments, having vast conflicts of interest due to ownership of a media empire with which he has restricted freedom of information and being blackmailed as leader because of his turbulent private life.
Berlusconi was born in Milan in 1936. His father, Luigi Berlusconi, was a bank employee, his mother, Rosa Bossi, a housewife. Silvio was the first of three children. After completing his secondary school education at a Salesian college, he studied law at the Università Statale in Milan, graduating in 1961, with a thesis on the legal aspects of advertising. Berlusconi was not required to serve the standard one-year stint in the Italian army, compulsory at the time. During his university studies, he was an upright bass player in a group formed with the now Mediaset Chairman and amateur pianist Fedele Confalonieri and performed as a cruise ship crooner. In life, he wrote A. C. Milan's anthem with the Italian music producer and pop singer Tony Renis and Forza Italia's anthem with the opera director Renato Serio. With the Neapolitan singer Mariano Apicella, he wrote two Neapolitan song albums: Meglio'na canzone in 2003 and L'ultimo amore in 2006. In 1965, he married Carla Elvira Dall'Oglio, they had two children: Maria Elvira, better known as Marina, Pier Silvio.
By 1980, Berlusconi had established a relationship with the actress Veronica Lario, with whom he subsequently had three children: Barbara and Luigi. He was divorced from Dall'Oglio in 1985, married Lario in 1990. By this time, Berlusconi was a well-known entrepreneur, his wedding was a notable social event. One of his best men was Bettino Craxi, a former prime minister and leader of the Italian Socialist Party. In May 2009, Lario announced. On 28 December 2012, Berlusconi was ordered to pay his ex-wife Veronica Lario $48 million a year in a divorce settlement, filed Christmas Day, he will keep the $100 million house they live in with their three children. In addition to his five children, Berlusconi has ten grandchildren. In April 2017, Berlusconi appeared in a video promoting a vegetarian Easter campaign. Berlusconi was shown cuddling lambs he had adopted to save from slaughtering for the traditional Easter Sunday feast, he has neither confirmed nor denied whether he himself is a vegetarian, however.
Berlusconi's business career began in construction. In the l
Italian lira
The lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002 and of the Albanian Kingdom between 1941 and 1943. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was a national subunit of the euro. However, cash payments could be made in lira only, as euro notes were not yet available; the lira was the currency of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy between 1807 and 1814. The term originates from the value of a pound weight of high purity silver and as such is a direct cognate of the British pound sterling. "L", sometimes in a double-crossed script form, was the symbol most used. Until the Second World War, it was subdivided into 100 centesimi, which translates to "hundredths" or "cents"; the lira was established at 290.322 milligrams of gold. This was a direct continuation of the Sardinian lira. Other currencies replaced by the Italian lira included the Lombardy-Venetia pound, the Two Sicilies piastra, the Tuscan fiorino, the Papal States scudo and the Parman lira. In 1865, Italy formed part of the Latin Monetary Union in which the lira was set as equal to, among others, the French and Swiss francs: in fact, in various Gallo-Italic languages in north-western Italy, the lira was outright called "franc".
This practice has ended with the introduction of the euro in 2002. World War I resulted in prices rising severalfold in Italy. Inflation was curbed somewhat by Mussolini, who, on August 18, 1926, declared that the exchange rate between lira and pound would be £1 = 90 lire—the so-called Quota 90, although the free exchange rate had been closer to 140–150 lire per pound, causing a temporary deflation and widespread problems in the real economy. In 1927, the lira was pegged to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 1 dollar = 19 lire. This rate lasted until 1934, with a separate "tourist" rate of US$1 = 24.89 lire being established in 1936. In 1939, the "official" rate was 19.8 lire. After the Allied invasion of Italy, an exchange rate was set at US$1 = 120 lire in June 1943, reduced to 100 lire the following month. In German occupied areas, the exchange rate was set at 1 Reichsmark = 10 lire. After the war, the value of the lira fluctuated, before Italy set a peg of US$1 = 575 lire within the Bretton Woods System in November 1947.
Following the devaluation of the pound, Italy devalued to US$1 = 625 lire on 21 September 1949. This rate was maintained until the end of the Bretton Woods System in the early 1970s. Several episodes of high inflation followed; the lira was the official unit of currency in Italy until January 1, 1999, when it was replaced by the euro. Old lira denominated currency ceased to be legal tender on February 28, 2002; the conversion rate is 1,936.27 lire to the euro. All lira banknotes in use before the introduction of the euro, all post-World War II coins, were exchanged by the Bank of Italy up to 6 December 2011. Italy's central bank pledged to redeem Italian coins and banknotes until 29 February 2012, but this was brought forward to 6 December 2011. Although Italian price displays and calculations became unwieldy because of the large number of zeros, efforts were unsuccessful for political reasons until the introduction of the euro which had the effect of lopping off excessive zeros; the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy issued coins between 1807 and 1813 in denominations of 1 and 3 centesimi and 1 soldo in copper, 10 centesimi in 20% silver alloy, 5, 10 and 15 soldi, 1, 2 and 5 lire in 90% silver and 20 and 40 lire in 90% gold.
All except the 10 centesimi bore a portrait of Napoleon, with the denominations below 1 lira showing a radiate crown and the higher denominations, a shield representing the various constituent territories of the Kingdom. In 1861, coins were minted in Florence, Milan and Turin in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 50 centesimi, 1 lira, 2, 5, 10 and 20 lire, with the lowest four in copper, the highest two in gold and the remainder in silver. In 1863, silver coins below 5 lire were debased from 90% to 83.5% and silver 20-centesimi coins were introduced. Minting switched to Rome in the 1870s. Apart from the introduction in 1894 of cupro-nickel 20-centesimi coins and of nickel 25-centesimi pieces in 1902, the coinage remained unaltered until the First World War. In 1919, with a purchase power of the lira reduced to one fifth of that of 1914, the production of all earlier coin types except for the nickel 20 centesimi halted, smaller, copper 5- and 10-centesimi and nickel 50-centesimi coins were introduced, followed by nickel 1- and 2-lira pieces in 1922 and 1923, respectively.
In 1926, silver 5- and 10-lira coins were introduced, equal in size and composition to the earlier 1- and 2-lira coins. Silver 20-lira coins were added in 1927. In 1936, the last substantial issue of silver coins was made, whilst, in 1939, moves to reduce the cost of the coinage led to copper being replaced by aluminium bronze and nickel by stainless steel. All issuance of coinage came to a halt in 1943. In 1943 the AM-lira was issued, in circulation in Italy after the landing in Sicily on the night between 9 and 10 July 1943. After 1946, the AM-lira ceased to be the currency of employment and was used along with normal notes, until June 3, 1950. Between 1947 and 1954, zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste used the Triestine lira. In 1946 coin production was resumed, although only in 1948, with the purchasing power of the lira reduced to 2% of that of 1939, did nu
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark", was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and the unified Germany from 1990 until 2002. It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 to replace the Reichsmark, served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year until the adoption of the euro. In English it is called the "Deutschmark"; the Germans called it D-Mark when referring to the currency, Mark when talking about individual sums. In 1999, the Deutsche Mark was replaced by the Euro; the Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender upon the introduction of the euro — in contrast to the other eurozone nations, where the euro and legacy currency circulated side by side for up to two months. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 28 February 2002; the Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in cash form may be changed into euros indefinitely, one may do so in person at any branch of the Bundesbank in Germany.
Banknotes and coins can be sent to the Bundesbank by mail. In 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with one poll showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currency's restoration. On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1. One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennige. A mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2⁄3 grams of pure silver. Although the mark was based on gold rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks = 1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion; the first mark, known as the Goldmark, was introduced in 1873. With the outbreak of World War I, the mark was taken off the gold standard.
The currency thus became known as the Papiermark as high inflation hyperinflation occurred and the currency became made up of paper money. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark from November 15, 1923, the Reichsmark in 1924. During the first two years of occupation the occupying powers of France, United Kingdom, United States, the Soviet Union were not able to negotiate a possible currency reform in Germany. Due to the strains between the Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters; the US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS 1067, which forbade the US military governor "to take any steps to strengthen German financial structure". As a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U. S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency; the Deutsche Mark was introduced on Sunday, June 20, 1948 by Ludwig Erhard. The old Reichsmark and Rentenmark were exchanged for the new currency at a rate of DM 1 = RM 1 for the essential currency such as wages, payment of rents etc. and DM 1 = RM 10 for the remainder in private non-bank credit balances, with half frozen.
Large amounts were exchanged for RM 10 to 65 Pfennig. In addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM 60 in two parts, the first being DM 40 and the second DM 20. A few weeks Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls, implemented by the Nazis, which the Allies had not removed, he did this, as he confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American and French occupation authorities were closed that day. He was sure; the introduction of the new currency was intended to protect western Germany from a second wave of hyperinflation and to stop the rampant barter and black market trade. Although the new currency was only distributed in the three western occupation zones outside Berlin, the move angered the Soviet authorities, who regarded it as a threat; the Soviets promptly cut off all road and canal links between the three western zones and West Berlin, starting the Berlin Blockade. In response, the U. S. and Britain launched an airlift of food and coal and distributed the new currency in West Berlin as well.
Since the 1930s, prices and wages had been controlled. That meant that people had accumulated large paper assets, that official prices and wages did not reflect reality, as the black market dominated the economy and more than half of all transactions were taking place unofficially; the reform replaced the old money with the new Deutsche Mark at the rate of one new per ten old. This wiped out 90% of government and private debt, as well as private savings. Prices were decontrolled, labor unions agreed to accept a 15% wage increase, despite the 25% rise in prices; the result was the prices of German export products held steady, while profits and earnings from exports soared and were poured back into the economy. The currency reforms were simultaneous with the $1.4 billion in Marshall Plan money coming in from the United States, used for investment. In addition, the Marshall plan forced German companies, as well as those in all of Western Europe, to moder
Italy
Italy the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Austria and the enclaved microstates San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,340 km2 and has a temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. With around 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth-most populous EU member state and the most populous country in Southern Europe. Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, Italy has been home to a myriad of peoples and cultures. In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout modern-day Italy, the most famous of which being the Indo-European Italics who gave the peninsula its name, beginning from the classical era and Carthaginians founded colonies in insular Italy and Genoa, Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia, while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively; the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC, which became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People.
The Roman Republic conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the peninsula, in some cases through the establishment of federations, the Republic expanded and conquered parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. By the first century BC, the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became the leading cultural and religious centre of Western civilisation, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Italy's technology, economy and literature flourished. Italy remained the metropole of the Roman Empire; the legacy of the Roman Empire endured its fall and can be observed in the global distribution of culture, governments and the Latin script. During the Early Middle Ages, Italy endured sociopolitical collapse and barbarian invasions, but by the 11th century, numerous rival city-states and maritime republics in the northern and central regions of Italy, rose to great prosperity through shipping and banking, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism.
These independent statelets served as Europe's main trading hubs with Asia and the Near East enjoying a greater degree of democracy than the larger feudal monarchies that were consolidating throughout Europe. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science and art. Italian culture flourished, producing famous scholars and polymaths such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Machiavelli. During the Middle Ages, Italian explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Cabot and Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered new routes to the Far East and the New World, helping to usher in the European Age of Discovery. Italy's commercial and political power waned with the opening of trade routes that bypassed the Mediterranean. Centuries of infighting between the Italian city-states, such as the Italian Wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, left the region fragmented, it was subsequently conquered and further divided by European powers such as France and Austria.
By the mid-19th century, rising Italian nationalism and calls for independence from foreign control led to a period of revolutionary political upheaval. After centuries of foreign domination and political division, Italy was entirely unified in 1871, establishing the Kingdom of Italy as a great power. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Italy industrialised, namely in the north, acquired a colonial empire, while the south remained impoverished and excluded from industrialisation, fuelling a large and influential diaspora. Despite being one of the main victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil, leading to the rise of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. Participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in military defeat, economic destruction and the Italian Civil War. Following the liberation of Italy and the rise of the resistance, the country abolished the monarchy, reinstated democracy, enjoyed a prolonged economic boom and, despite periods of sociopolitical turmoil became a developed country.
Today, Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the sixth-largest worldwide national wealth. Its advanced economy ranks eighth-largest in the world and third in the Eurozone by nominal GDP. Italy owns the third-largest central bank gold reserve, it has a high level of human development, it stands among the top countries for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military and diplomatic affairs. Italy is a founding and leading member of the European Union and a member of numerous international institutions, including the UN, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the WTO, the G7, the G20, the Union for the Mediterranean, the Council of Europe, Uniting for Consensus, the Schengen Area and many more; as a reflection
Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi Buffon shortened to Gigi Buffon, is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He is regarded by players and managers as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and, by some, as the greatest ever. At club level, Buffon's professional career began with Parma in 1995, where he made his Serie A debut, he soon earned a reputation as one of the most promising young goalkeepers in Italy, helped Parma win the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Supercoppa Italiana, in 1999. After joining Juventus in 2001 for the world record fee for a goalkeeper of €52 million at the time, Buffon won Serie A titles in both of his first two seasons at the club, established himself as one of the best players in the world in his position. With Juventus, he won a record nine Serie A titles, as well as four Coppa Italia titles, five Supercoppa Italiana titles. After 17 years with Juventus, Buffon signed with French club Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 40 in 2018, where he won the Trophée des Champions in his first season with the team.
With 176 international caps, Buffon is the most capped player in the history of the Italy national team, the fourth-most capped footballer of all time, the most capped European international player ever. Buffon was called up for a record of five FIFA World Cup tournaments since making his debut in 1997, he was the starting goalkeeper of the squad. He represented Italy at four European Championships, at the 1996 Olympics, at two FIFA Confederations Cups, winning a bronze medal in the 2013 edition of the tournament, he retired from international football in 2017, after Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, although he came out of retirement for the team's friendlies the following year, before confirming his international retirement in May 2018. Buffon was the runner-up for the Ballon d'Or in 2006, was elected to be part of the FIFPro World XI, an honour which he achieved two more times, he is the first goalkeeper to win the Golden Foot Award, which pertains to both personality and playing ability.
He was the first goalkeeper to win the Serie A Footballer of the Year award, was named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year a record 12 times. He was named the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper a record five times, alongside Iker Casillas, was named the best goalkeeper of the 21st century, of the past 25 years, of the decade, by the same organisation, he holds the record for the most clean sheets in Serie A, with the Italy national team. He is one of only twenty-five players to have made at least 1,000 professional career appearances, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004. Following his 2006 World Cup victory with Italy, where he kept a record five clean sheets, he won the Yashin Award, in which he was elected to be part of the Team of the Tournament. Buffon is the only goalkeeper to have won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year Award, which he won after reaching the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final. After reaching the 2015 and 2017 Champions League finals, he was named to the Champions League Squad of the Season on both occasions, won the inaugural The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award in the latter year.
Despite offers from Bologna and Milan, Buffon began his career with the Parma youth system in 1991, at the age of 13. During his time in the youth academy, he played in several out-field positions, in particular as a midfielder, before switching to his current position of goalkeeper, his idol Thomas N'Kono inspired this change of position due to his notable goalkeeping performances for Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He adapted to this role, within two weeks he had been promoted to first keeper of the Parma youth team. Ermes Fulgoni, the academy's goalkeeping coach, would soon become a mentor to the young goalkeeper. After an initial call-up to train with the first team during the summer of 1994, Buffon was promoted to the senior squad in 1995, at the age of 17 years, 295 days, he made his Serie A debut for Parma under Nevio Scala, keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 home draw against eventual Serie A Champions Milan, on 19 November 1995. Buffon made notable saves against Ballon d'Or winners Roberto Baggio and George Weah, as well as Marco Simone, throughout the match.
Buffon went on to make seven more first team appearances that season as well as one appearance in the Coppa Italia, making his debut in the competition, as Parma were eliminated in the second round. Parma finished in sixth place in Serie A that season. During his time at Parma, he trained under goalkeeping coach Villiam Vecchi, a person to whom Buffon attributes much
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations is the administrative body for association football and beach soccer in Europe, although several member states are or located in Asia. It is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe, runs nation and club competitions including the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup, controls the prize money and media rights to those competitions. Henri Delaunay was Ebbe Schwartz the first president; the current president is Aleksander Čeferin, a former Football Association of Slovenia president, elected as UEFA's seventh president at the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens in September 2016, automatically became a vice-president of the world body FIFA. UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian and Belgian associations.
The European football union began with 25 members. Until 1959 the main headquarters were located in Paris, in Bern. In 1995, UEFA headquarters were transferred to Switzerland. UEFA membership coincides for the most part with recognition as a sovereign country in Europe, although there are some exceptions; some states are not members. Some UEFA members are not sovereign states, but form part of a larger recognised sovereign state in the context of international law; these include Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Faroe Islands, Kosovo, however in the context of these countries government functions concerning sport tend to be carried at the territorial level coterminous with the UEFA member entity. Some UEFA members are transcontinental states and others are considered part of Europe both culturally and politically. Countries, members of the Asian Football Confederation were admitted to the European football association Israel and Kazakhstan. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their association's main territory to take part in their "domestic" competition.
AS Monaco, for example, takes part in the French League. F. C. participate in the English League. Derry City, situated in Northern Ireland, plays in the Republic of Ireland-based League of Ireland and the 7 native Liechtensteinian teams play in the Swiss Leagues. Saarland Football Union, joined Football Association of West Germany Football Association of East Germany, joined Football Association of West Germany as German Football Association Football Federation of the Soviet Union. Four other successor republics formed their own football organisations. Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. Montenegro, which exited the union, created the Football Association of Montenegro, it competed as FR Yugoslavia until 2003 when the country changed its name to Montenegro. Football Association of Czechoslovakia, became Football Association of the Czech Republic and Slovak Football Association with the Football Association of the Czech Republic acknowledged as its direct successor. Lithuania, in 1990 sanctions were imposed due to secession of Lithuanian Football Federation from the Football Federation of Soviet Union Yugoslavia, in 1992-1998 sanctions were imposed due to the Bosnian War Italy, in 1974-1975 sanctions were imposed against SS Lazio due to its fans, Italy was restricted from the European Cup to which Lazio qualified England, in 1985-1991 sanctions were imposed against English association football clubs due to the Heysel Stadium disaster by suspending their participation in continental competitions for five years Netherlands, in 1991-1992 sanctions were imposed against AFC Ajax due to its fans, the Netherlands were restricted from the European Cup to which Ajax qualified Albania, in 1967 special sanctions were imposed against 1966–67 Albanian Superliga due to its political background 1968–69 the Warsaw Pact demonstrated political protest and imposed sanctions on clubs of its members in continental competitions (included E
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