Player Profile: the great Luís Figo | OneFootball

He was more than just an iconic footballer. For a while, Luís Figo became the most loved and hated sportsman in the world. That transfer – yes, that transfer – made him a global figure and somehow had people forget how good he actually was. And few could claim to be a match for him at the turn of the century.

Luís Figo wasn’t just Portugal’s second Ballon d’Or winner nor the first to captain both Barcelona and Real Madrid. He was the symbol of a country finally meeting expectations, of a generation that redefined how the game was seen and enjoyed. Eusébio’s legacy and Cristiano Ronaldo’s heritage made the Almada-born career seem somewhat lesser, but make no mistake, Luís Figo is right there in the hall of fame of the greatest footballers of all time.

Luís Figo takes on France’s Didier Deschamps and Marcel Desailly at the height of his career during the Euro 2000 semi-final (Photo: Graham Chadwick/Allsport)

Long, varied, controversial and success-strewn career

There is so much to Luís Figo that it’s almost impossible to cover everything about what he was about during his playing days. For the things he did on and off the pitch, but also for the impact that he had on a nation and a generation. Figo played football as few had before or after. He was one of the most gifted wingers the world has ever enjoyed, but also had the strength of character and leadership you don’t usually associate with talented, speedy wingers. He had the soul of a hard, seasoned, veteran midfielder and the brain of a number ten. A mix of talent, courage and a sense of the theatrical that is hard to find.

For some, he was the iconic figure in many of the celebrated TV ads of North-American sports company Nike, at a time when football was starting to break commercial barriers. He became popular around the world through his abilities displayed on those ads and turned out to be also a sex symbol for a female audience that was finally starting to tune in with football after decades when the sport was considered men-only.

He was also the same player who bent, or at least tried to bend, the rules his way. Football is a game of codes, and Figo broke some during his playing career. He famously publicly stated he was not happy with Deco’s inclusion in the Portugal national side, signed two contracts with Italian clubs Juventus and AS Parma at once, and was forbidden to play for a Serie A club for years because of it, and then did the unthinkable by switching allegiances in the world’s fiercest football rivalry. Some players moved from Barcelona to Real Madrid and the other way around before. The likes of Luís Enrique, Michael Laudrup, Bernd Schuster, Evaristo, Pepe Samitier, to name but a few iconic names. None hurt as much, though.

Figo had arrived in Barcelona under a cloud of suspicion, although Johan Cruyff had already spotted the talent and emotional strength that would make him a world-class player. He was nurtured in Catalonia, embraced the local culture, became a cult figure and turned out to be one of the leaders of the dressing room alongside iconic local players such as Pep Guardiola. When he wore the captain’s armband, he was making a point of showing how he belonged there as much as in any other place in the world.

By moving to Real Madrid, albeit in the face of poor treatment at the hands of the newly elected Blaugrana chairman Joan Gaspart, and kick-starting a new era in world football, as the first of the Galácticos, was not just a punch in the face of the Catalan fanbase. It was a player showing he too understood how the game was moving forward to a place where emotional allegiances meant less than money. It was the first generation that got rich playing the game, and Figo was not ready to pass up the opportunity. He never was. There was a price to be paid, and it might be true that not even he was ready to face the full-scale consequences of his actions: the incessant booing and whistling at a football ground, the pig’s head thrown at him, the abuse he suffered time and time again. But he did it in the end and became a better player for it.

Southbank kid makes good

Luís Figo was born in 1972 in Almada, the son of an Alentejo-born family, and grew up looking at Lisbon’s downtown and dreaming of becoming a footballer. For decades, the big guns in the capital had nurtured themselves with talent from the other bank of the big river, particularly from Barreiro, Seixal and Montijo, and Almada was no exception. As he was growing up, playing for a small local side called Os Pastilhas, Figo was already attracting attention from both Benfica and Sporting in the early 1980s, but it was in 1985, just a few months after Paulo Futre moved from Alvalade north to Porto, that he was finally signed by the Lions. He was thirteen and quickly became the talk of the town.

It was also the time when Portuguese youth football was enjoying a game-changing transformation under Carlos Queiroz. Working for the Portuguese Football Federation, Queiroz implemented a series of programmes that allowed him to scout talented players not only in clubs but also in schools as well, to bring up a huge pool of future youth internationals that he swiftly turned into a family of sorts. Figo was on his radar very soon, and he began to escalate the ranks even before Sporting supporters were aware of his talents. Doing so, he became part of the Golden Generation’s first steps, and although he was too young to be included in the 1989 World Cup-winning side in Saudi Arabia, by 1991 when Portugal hosted and won the same event, he was already a leader in the dressing room alongside the likes of Rui Costa, Paulo Sousa, João Vieira Pinto and Jorge Costa.

By then, Figo was mainly a right winger with a speedy touch and a good passing ability. He was also very technical, a trait he learned while excelling at futsal, a new indoor version of the game that was becoming more popular by the day. By 1990, he had already debuted with Sporting’s first team in a home win against Marítimo, but it wasn’t until the following season that he became a regular starter, aged just 20. Sporting were in their tenth season without a league win, a club record, and Figo was being touted as the man who would lead them back to glory.

First under Bobby Robson and then Carlos Queiroz, he became the leader of a pack that also included the likes of Emilio Peixe, Krasimir Balakov, Angel Iordanov, Sergei Cherbakhov, Andreijz Juskowiack and later Paulo Sousa and António Pacheco, poached from Benfica in the summer of 1993. That campaign was as close as Sporting got to winning the league, and with Figo scoring the first goal in the decisive derby against Benfica in April, it seemed he was fulfilling his destiny. Only that afternoon would serve as the crowning moment of one of his fellow Golden Generation graduates, João Vieira Pinto, and Sporting finished the season third and lost the cup final to FC Porto. They did lift the Cup the following campaign, against Marítimo, but by then it had become clear that Figo, who had replaced Futre as Portugal’s usual starting right winger, was not going to stay for long.

The King of Barcelona

Figo takes on Chelsea’s Celestine Babayaro in a Champions League tie in 2000 at the Nou Camp. (Photo: Clive Brunskill /Allsport)

He didn’t. By signing simultaneously for Juventus and AS Parma – clubs that had already benefited from that Portuguese youth setup input with the signings of Paulo Sousa and Fernando Couto – he was forced to move to Spain, where Barcelona got ahead of everyone else. Cruyff saw him as the perfect replacement for Hristo Stoichkov in his idea of rebooting the Dream Team (he also tried to sign Zinedine Zidane from Bordeaux to reprise the Michael Laudrup role), but the Dutchman was sacked before the season ended, and Figo’s first season at the Camp Nou ended poorly.

He reunited with Bobby Robson and international teammates Vitor Baía and Fernando Couto for the following season, leading Barcelona to a memorable campaign where they were able to win every competition – the Spanish Supercup, the Copa del Rey and the Cup Winners Cup – bar the league, lost to Real Madrid. Fuelled by Ronaldo Nazario’s goals, this was the first season where Figo showed his true world-class potential, and when the Brazilian was then sold to Inter to be replaced by Rivaldo, his status as one of the leading players of the side remained untouched.

In came also Louis van Gaal, who fell in love with Figo’s work ethic and strength of character – contrary to his tense relationship with the Brazilian superstar Ronaldo – and suddenly Figo was not just another Blaugrana player, he was their most influential starter. With him, Barcelona won back-to-back league honours but failed in European competitions, which hurt the side’s popularity worldwide. Figo was in a world of his own, however. Already leading Portugal to Euro 96 – the first international tournament in a decade for the Seleção – and becoming a regular nominee for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

However, in 1999, the French magazine France Football decided to reward Rivaldo instead of him and knowing the Brazilian was much better paid than he could ever hope for, Figo snapped. Elections in Barcelona paved the way for Joan Gaspart to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Josep Luís Nuñez, and when Figo came knocking on his door for a raise, to be on a par with Rivaldo, he was dismissed and snubbed by someone who felt that the fact that he was Portuguese meant he couldn’t compare himself to a Brazilian football star.

Florentino Perez thought otherwise. Vying to poach the Real Madrid presidency from Lorenzo Sanz, who had just delivered Los Blancos two Champions League trophies in three seasons, Perez approached José Veiga, Figo’s longtime agent, with a proposition. He would sign an agreement for him that stated if Perez won the ballot, Figo would become a Real Madrid player. If Perez lost, he was free to keep playing for Barcelona, but if he had cold feet, then he had to pay 30 million euros to Perez, who had promised to pay all the season tickets at the Bernabeu if he failed to keep his word. Figo might have felt Perez was going to lose and that this agreement would serve as leverage to bargain for a better deal from Gaspart. But Florentino won and, after spending a few days missing on Italian shores, Figo was finally unveiled as a Real Madrid player. He was also, by then, the best player in the world.

Crowned the best player in the world

The Euro 2000 campaign became a decisive moment in the history of Portuguese football. It was the time when the Golden Generation, who somehow missed the 1998 World Cup, came of age. After an exhilarating group stage campaign, Portugal came top of a section that included England, Germany and Romania, who had beaten them in qualifying, with three wins to their name. Figo’s goal against the English, a powerful long-range shot, became a trademark image of his career and for that generation.

He was again decisive against Turkey in the quarter-finals, and only a last-second handball by Abel Xavier prevented him and Portugal from a chance to progress to the final, with a penalty shootout against Zidane’s France in the offing. By the end of the competition, it was clear to all that, with Ronaldo Nazário permanently injured, the best player in the world debate was exclusively a duel between Zidane and Figo. The iconic transfer for Real Madrid, the brilliant first half of the season wearing the white of Madrid and the powerful performance at the European Championship granted him the title of best player in the world by France Football come December. The following year, he beat Zidane to the FIFA Award as the world’s best player. The Frenchman had topped Figo the year before after coming second in the Ballon d’Or, as Real Madrid also added the Frenchman to their Galácticos project. A project that existed mainly because of Figo.

His appeal among the Madridistas faithful was unquestionable as he guided the side to their first La Liga win in three years and then was decisive in clinching the Champions League in 2002 and another league trophy in 2003. Those were the best years of Figo in terms of recognition and honours, even if he had transformed himself, now that he was entering his thirties, into a more calculated and cleverer player on the ball, if less spectacular. With Real Madrid, Figo played five seasons where he might not have been the most talented footballer in the squad – that included Ronaldo in 2003 and then Beckham in 2004 – but he was certainly one of the most beloved.

Figo playing for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich in the Champions League at The Bernabeu, 2004 (Photo: Phil Cole/Getty Images)

More glory at Inter

He then moved to Inter, perhaps anticipating the disaster that would come next, where he fitted right in, playing for the Nerazzurri up until 2009, first under Roberto Mancini and then José Mourinho, whom he had worked with at Sporting and Barcelona all those years ago. Juventus’ Calcio suspension meant Inter were the undisputed side of Italian football of those years, and Figo added three Serie A Scudettos to his already brilliant portfolio.

By then, he had dropped out of the national side after an injury sustained in a Champions League tie against Porto in 2002, limiting his performances in the World Cup later that year. The arrival of Luís Felipe Scolari and the inclusion of Deco briefly opened a schism within the national camp. The Golden Generation was displaced by Mourinho’s Porto stars and a series of promising newcomers like Simão Sabrosa and Ricardo Quaresma – both signed by Barcelona to try and replicate Figo’s previous achievements without success – and particularly Cristiano Ronaldo, who idolised Figo has he was growing up in the same Sporting academy. Figo remained the sole representative of the Golden Generation come Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

It was Portugal’s finest hour on the international stage until then, but a home defeat in the final against Greece and then another semi-final disappointment against France two years later emphasised the feeling that Portugal had missed their opportunity to win their first piece of silverware. Figo played brilliantly in both events but then decided it was time to say goodbye and focus on his club career.

Off-pitch endeavours

He was by then already a world icon due to his off-pitch career in fashion and Nike TV adverts, and his marriage to celebrity Swedish model Helen Svedin and was beginning to foster a feeling of a social conservative, a trait he developed more in time as he also turned into a successful entrepreneur and even aimed for a shot at both the UEFA and FIFA presidency.

Figo is chased by England’s David Beckham during the Euro 2004 quarter-final in Lisbon. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Figo’s football heritage cannot be underestimated. He was not only one of the most talented players ever to come out of Portugal, but he had all the right traits to become the leader that Portugal usually lacked in the big moments. Despite not achieving international success with the Seleção, it was undeniable that, without him in the side, it would have been hard for Portugal to be consistently considered among the elite, as was the case during his playing days. An idol in the Camp Nou, the Santiago Bernabeu and the San Siro, a multiple winner of domestic honours in Spain and Italy and a two-time Champions League victor, it is hard not to think of him when the famous all-time rankings of players pop up. He might not have been as decisive as Eusébio, as ferocious as Ronaldo or as technically gifted as Paulo Futre or even Fernando Chalana, but it’s impossible not to rank him in the shortlist for Portugal’s all-time greats.

The version of Figo each one takes home reflects on how supporters live the game and how perceptions have changed with time. From the iconic cinematographic moments for Nike, the endless runs on the wing at Barcelona, the cool, slow, raised hand celebrations at Madrid or the grim smile whenever the national anthem sounded wearing the Portuguese shirt, everyone has a Figo moment in their lives. In the end, that is really what defines greatness.