Italy playmaker Andrea Pirlo has signed a new two-year deal with Juventus which will keep him at the Serie A champions until 2016, the club said.

Since leaving AC Milan in 2011, the 35-year-old midfielder has inspired Juventus to three successive Serie A titles and his performance has been rewarded with an extended contract.

Known as an exceptional free-kick exponent, Pirlo scored six goals last season for the club.

"A beacon in the centre of the field and a torment for our opponents, with Pirlo pulling the strings Juve have racked up three consecutive league titles and added two Italian Super Cups," Juventus said on their club website (www.juventus.com)

"For 131 games Andrea Pirlo has been the fulcrum of the side, the intersection through which every move passes.

"In three years, he's played his team mates through on goal 30 times, touching the ball at least once for every minute he's spent on the pitch (11,551 balls played versus his 11,344 minutes in action), with a pass completion rate of over 90 percent.

"Numbers that would read like science fiction for anyone else, but for the Professor, it's simply par for the course. And the lesson's not over yet..."

The 2006 World Cup winner will again be Italy coach Cesare Prandelli's mainstay in Brazil as they seek to progress from Group D, which also contains Uruguay, England and Costa Rica.

Italy open their World Cup campaign against England at Manaus on Saturday.