“She represents our nation in the best way possible”: Gianluigi Buffon supports Giorgia Meloni

A clear position. Present at the Atreju political rally, organized last weekend in Rome by young activists from the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), led by Giorgia Meloni, Gianluigi Buffon did not hesitate to support the Italian Prime Minister.

“She represents the nation in the best possible way,” he said on several local media outlets, including Libero. “She’s been in government for a long time, it’s a tremendous achievement.” » According to the Milanese media, the former historic goalkeeper of the Squadra Azzurra even went on stage alongside the Italian Minister of Sports, Andrea Abodi.

In Italy, the political positioning of Buffon, now head of the Italian selection delegation, has always been ambiguous. In 1999, at the start of his playing career, the man with 176 national team caps created controversy by appearing during a television interview with a jersey from Parma, his then club, adorned with the fascist slogan “Boia chi molla” (“He who gives up is an executioner”).

“Anarcho-conservative” or “moderate liberal”?

“I know nothing about politics, I simply wanted to inspire my comrades,” he defused at the time. Pleading youthful error, he returned to the issue in 2021 with the newspaper The Republicdefining himself as an “anarcho-conservative”.

This weekend, the Italian press agency Ansa listed Buffon’s various political positions. In 2013, the former Juventus Turin goalkeeper supported the liberal centrist Mario Monti before supporting, three years later, the constitutional referendum project of Matteo Renzi, then head of government, rather center-left.

A few hours after Buffon’s public statement in support of Meloni, the wife of the 2006 world champion, Ilaria D’Amico, spoke to defend him, again with Ansa. “He is a moderate liberal,” said the Italian journalist and presenter, affirming that the ex-PSG player was looking for “a stable balance” in politics.

Also questioned about the recent difficulties encountered by the Italian selection, Buffon is counting on a possible qualification for the World Cup – the Squadra Azzurra must first extricate itself from the play-offs – to bring “magic to the country”. “Italy would become a great forum where we would all be united,” he hoped.