Italy is a country that has produced dozens of world class goalkeepers. Some of them even considered the world's best of all time, such as Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff, and Walter Zenga. In fact, those goalkeepers also made several records and remarkable achievements.
Who is the best Italian goalkeeper of all time? Considering their performances in the team, individual awards, and goalkeeping abilities, I created a list of fifteen greatest Italian goalies. Among all of the goalkeepers in this list, which one is your favorite?
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15. Lorenzo Buffon
Lorenzo Buffon is a retired goalkeeper who played for 15 seasons in Serie A with some big clubs, such as AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Fiorentina. Buffon's best period passed when he played for AC Milan from 1949 to 1959. With Milan, he won four Serie A titles. One more important information, Lorenzo is a distant relative of Gianluigi Buffon, one of the best modern goalkeepers in the current period.
14. Marco Amelia
Marco Amelia started his career in AS Roma before he moved to Livorno in 2001. In Livorno, he got a lot of opportunities to perform and proving his goalkeeping talent. At the club, Amelia played for seven seasons. More spectacularly, Amelia scored three goals for the club. The best achievement ever achieved by Amelia was winning a Serie A title in the 2010-2011 season.
13. Aldo Olivieri
Aldo Olivieri is a former goalkeeper who had career as a professional player from 1929 to 1946. Because he is relatively short for a goalkeeper (only 178 centimeters tall), he was nicknamed as "Little Hercules." This player was also the goalkeeper of the Italian national team squad that won the World Cup tournament in 1938. After retiring, he became a manager for some Italian major clubs, such as Inter Milan, Udinese and Juventus.
12. Luca Marchegiani
Luca Marchegiani was part of a Lazio's dream team that was formed in the late 90s under the leadership of Sven Goran Eriksson as a manager. In this period, Eriksson drastically reconstructed the team, bought and sold a lot of players. However, Marchegiani's position as the number one goalkeeper was indispensable. In addition to winning the Scudetto in the 1999-2000 season, Marchegiani also won three Coppa Italia trophies and one Winners' Cup trophy with Lazio.
11. Giovanni Galli
Giovanni Galli is a retired goalkeeper who spent most of his career playing for Fiorentina and AC Milan. He played pretty consistent for Fiorentina for six seasons, with a total of 259 appearances. In 1986, he joined AC Milan where he won two League Cup trophies and one Serie A title. Although he was the number one goalkeeper in his clubs, Galli very rarely got a chance to play in the Italian national team as he was mostly positioned as a substitute for Dino Zoff and Walter Zenga.
10. Federico Marchetti
Federico Marchetti is currently playing for Lazio. The goalkeeper had a substantial contribution to the Italian national team in the World Cup 2010, where he played in three games replacing the injured Gianluigi Buffon. Marchetti began his career with Torino in 2002, and for seven years he was loaned and transferred continuously to minor Italian clubs. In 2008, he had the opportunity to perform as a goalkeeper for a Serie A team, Cagliari, where he can show his true potential.
9. Morgan De Sanctis
De Sanctis is a goalkeeper who gained recognition from the pundit when he played for Udinese in 2002. This player has previously joined Udinese since 1999, but had always been positioned as a backup of the first-team goalkeeper, Luigi Turci. After undergoing a fairly resounding five seasons with Udinese, De Sanctis decided to go out of Italy and played for Sevilla and Galatasaray. His best achievement as a player are a Turkish Super Cup trophy that he won in 2008 and a Coppa Italia trophy in 2012.
8. Gianpiero Combi
Gianpiero Combi spent his entire 13-year career as a professional player with Juventus, from 1921 to 1934. The player was the main goalkeeper of the Italian national team that won the World Cup tournament in 1934. Combi was regarded as one of the world's best goalkeeper in 1930s, along with Frantisek Planicka (Czechoslovakia) and Ricardo Zamora (Spain). In Juventus, Combi won five Serie A titles.
7. Angelo Peruzzi
Angelo Peruzzi was the first goalkeeper of Juventus who help the club undergo glorious era in the 90s. He played 209 times, won three Serie A titles and a Champions League trophy. Not only that, he also won the annual award as the Best Goalkeeper of Italy three times. Peruzzi ended his career with Lazio in 2007. Currently, he works as an assistant coach for Sampdoria and Italy U-21 national team.
6. Francesco Toldo
Francesco Toldo is a former goalkeeper who was highly praised for outstanding performances in Euro 2000 tournament with the Italian national team. In the semi-final match again the Netherlands, Toldo saved three penalty kicks. He is listed as one of the best players of all time of Fiorentina. As he couldn't win any major title with Fiorentina, Toldo decided to move to Inter Milan in 2001. With Inter, Toldo won five Serie A titles and a Champions League trophy.
5. Gianluca Pagliuca
Pagliuca spent most of 20 years of his career as a professional footballer playing for three clubs in Serie A, Sampdoria, Inter Milan, and Bologna. He showed quite a great performance with Sampdoria, helped this club win a Scudetto title and three Coppa Italia trophies. In the World Cup 1994, Pagliuca was selected as the first-team goalkeeper of Italian national team. He made a record as the world's first goalkeeper to save a penalty kick in the final round of a World Cup tournament.
4. Enrico Albertosi
Enrico Albertosi played from 1958 to 1984. At club level, he played for three Serie A clubs, Fiorentina, Milan, and Cagliari. This player was the Italian first goalkeeper in the World Cup 1970, where he managed to bring his team to be the runner-up of the tournament. Albertosi also did a remarkable save in a match against West Germany during the tournament. Throughout his career, Albertosi won two Serie A titles with Cagliari and AC Milan.
3. Gianluigi Buffon
Buffon is the best goalkeeper of Italy who is currently still playing as a professional footballer. As a goalkeeper, Buffon's greatness have been seen since he was young. He was trusted to be a first-team goalkeeper for a Serie A team, Parma, at the age of 17 years. His prowess in guarding the goal lines makes Buffon was awarded as the "Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century" by IFFHS. In addition to winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy, Buffon also helped Juventus win the Serie A title four times.
2. Walter Zenga
Walter Zenga was the first-team goalkeeper of the Italian national team in the mid 1980s to early 1990s. This player played for 12 years for Inter Milan and won one Serie A title and two UEFA Cup trophies. Zenga's best season occurred in the period 1986-1987, in which he conceded only 17 goals in 30 games in Serie A. This fact helped Zenga to be chosen as Italy's number first-team goalkeeper in two major tournaments, the Euro 1988 and the World Cup 1990.
1. Dino Zoff
Dino Zoff is indeed the best Italian goalkeeper of all time. Throughout the 22 years of his career as a professional footballer, Zoff played 112 times for the Italian national team. He led his country to win the World Cup 1982 and Euro 1968. Along with Paolo Rossi, Zoff was considered the best Italian player of the World Cup 1982 tournament. At club level, Zoff also achieved various glorious achievements with Juventus, such as winning six Serie A titles. After his retirement, Zoff's works as coach and he led Italia national team to be the runner-up in Euro 2000 tournament.
