Luís Figo

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Luís Figo
Personal information
Full name Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo[1]
Date of birth 4 November 1972 (1972-11-04) (age 36)
Place of birth Almada, Portugal
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Playing position Attacking midfielder, winger (retired)
Youth career
– União de Pastilhas
– Sporting CP
Senior career1
Years Club Apps (Gls)2
1989–1995 Sporting CP 137 (16)
1995–2000 FC Barcelona 172 (30)
2000–2005 Real Madrid 163 (36)
2005–2009 Internazionale 105 0(9)
National team
1991–2006 Portugal 127 (32)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 May 2009.
2 Appearances (Goals).

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (born 4 November 1972 in Almada) is a former Portuguese footballer who played as a midfielder for Sporting Clube de Portugal, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale during a career which spans over 20 years. He retired from football on 31 May 2009. He won 127 caps for the Portuguese national football team.

Figo was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was named amongst the FIFA 100.

Figo is one of the few footballers to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, he had a successful career highlighted by several trophy wins, such as one Portuguese Cup, four Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Champions League title, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, one UEFA-CONMEBOL Intercontinental Cup, four Serie A titles, one TIM Italian Cup and three Italian Super Cups. He has also won the 2000 Golden Ball (Ballon d'Or) award and the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Sporting CP

Luís Figo started his career at Sporting Clube de Portugal. He won his first senior international cap in 1991. Prior to that, he won the Under-20 World Championships and Under-16 European Championships with Portugal junior sides, alongside Rui Costa, João Pinto and he was also a significant part of Portugal's "Golden Generation".

[edit] Barcelona

In 1995, Figo looked poised to join one of the big clubs of Europe, but a dispute between Italian clubs Juventus and Parma, with Figo having signed contracts with both clubs, resulted in an Italian two-year transfer ban on Figo, effectively stopping any moves to Italy. However, the situation was eventually resolved for Figo, with a move to Spanish club FC Barcelona for a £2.25 million fee,[3] under Dutch coach Johan Cruyff.

It was with Barcelona from 1995 that his career really took off: Figo won a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996–97, successive Primera División titles and went on to appear 172 times for the Blaugrana, scoring 30 goals.

[edit] Real Madrid

In 2000, Figo made a hugely controversial move to Barcelona's bitter rivals Real Madrid for a world record fee. The fee was quoted between £38m and £53m. Many Barcelona fans felt betrayed by his transfer and turned against him, despite Figo having many years of success with Barcelona and having been a fan favourite for over five years. When he returned two seasons later in the semi-final of the 2001-02 Champions League, he got a heated reception from the crowd and many started throwing objects at him as he took corners and throw-ins, including a pig's head, which resulted in FC Barcelona incurring a fine.

[edit] Internazionale

Figo left Real Madrid to join Internazionale in the summer of 2005 on a free transfer after his contract with Real Madrid had expired. This meant that Figo would finally be able to play for a club in Italy, something he had the chance to do before his move to FC Barcelona, but was scuppered due to a dispute between the two clubs interested, Juventus and Parma. During the summer of 2008, Figo's compatriot José Mourinho joined Inter on a managerial level. This has been said to please Figo, as he would have several Portuguese teammates during the remainder of his stay at Inter. On 16 May 2009, Figo announced his retirement from football, the same day Internazionale won the 2008-09 Serie A, and re-confirmed this on the 30 May; his final game was on the 31 May against Atalanta at the San Siro. The freekick he scored in extra time against AS Roma during the Supercoppa Italiana was undisputedly his most memorable part of his time in Italy.[4][5] Figo: "I am leaving football, not Inter": Interviewed by Inter Channel after today's game against Atalanta, Luis Figo (36) said: "I hope to be able to help this club to become even greater also after my retirement. I will certainly work for Inter in the future in the club board. I never imagined that I was going to remain here for such a long time. What I will never forget is the love that I have received since my first day here from my team mates and President Moratti. I will never forget it, Inter have given me the chance to start a winning cycle with some extraordinary people"[6].

[edit] International career

The leader of Portugal's 'Golden Generation', Figo won a FIFA World Youth Championship in 1991, the same year he made his senior debut against Luxembourg on 16 October 1991, in a friendly match that ended 1-1 when he was only 18 years old. He has performed at the highest level ever since, making appearances at UEFA Euro 1996, Euro 2000, and the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. He announced his retirement from international football following the UEFA Euro 2004 final defeat by Greece, having won 117 caps and scored 31 goals. However, in June 2005, he reversed his decision and returned for the 2006 World Cup qualifying wins against Slovakia and Estonia.

Figo captained the squad during the 2006 World Cup, leading the team to the semi-finals, where they were beaten 1-0 by France. This was the furthest Portugal had reached in the tournament since 1966. A penalty, scored by French captain Zinedine Zidane stood as the winning goal. The third place playoff caused some controversy as Figo did not start; Pauleta captained the team in his place. However, Portugal fell behind 0-2 to hosts Germany and Figo replaced Pauleta in the 77th minute, regaining his captaincy during the substitution. Although Germany scored another goal shortly after Figo's entrance, he ended his final cap for his country on a high note as he set up Nuno Gomes' goal in the 88th minute to help Portugal claw back a marker. Despite having no trophies to show for the "Golden Generation", Figo managed to bring the team to their first World Cup semi-final since the Eusébio era in 1966.

[edit] Personal life

Figo in 2006

Figo is married to Swedish model Helen Svedin. They met at a flamenco show and are now married with three daughters - Daniela (born in March 1999), Martina (born in April 2002), and Stella (born 9 December 2004). They are currently expecting their fourth child. Along with his countryman, now Portugal national team manager and former youth team coach Carlos Queiroz, Figo was briefly joint seat holder for A1 Team Portugal, in A1 Grand Prix, during the 2005-06 season. He now owns an upscale bar in the Algarve region of Portugal.

[edit] Career statistics

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Sporting CP 1989-90 3 0 - - 3 0
1990-91 3 0 - - 3 0
1991-92 34 1 7 0 2 0 43 1
1992-93 32 0 8 1 2 0 42 1
1993-94 31 8 1 0 3 0 35 8
1994-95 34 7 7 3 2 0 43 10
Total 137 16 23 4 9 0 169 20
FC Barcelona 1995-96 35 5 8 1 10 3 53 9
1996-97 36 4 9 2 8 1 53 7
1997-98 35 5 4 0 7 1 46 6
1998-99 34 7 10 1 6 1 50 9
1999-00 32 9 2 0 13 5 47 16
Total 172 30 33 4 44 11 249 47
Real Madrid 2000-01 34 9 1 0 14 5 49 14
2001-02 28 7 6 1 10 3 44 11
2002-03 32 10 1 0 15 2 48 12
2003-04 36 9 8 3 11 1 55 13
2004-05 33 3 0 0 10 4 43 7
Total 163 38 16 4 60 15 239 57
Internazionale 2005-06 34 5 3 0 8 1 45 6
2006-07 32 2 7 0 7 0 47 2
2007-08 17 1 1 0 3 0 21 1
2008-09 22 1 - 3 0 17 1
Total 105 9 11 0 21 1 132 10
Career total 573 91 84 12 134 27 789 132

[edit] Club Playing Honours

Sporting CP
FC Barcelona
Real Madrid
Internazionale
Figo's Ballon d'Or

[edit] International Playing Honours

Portugal National Football Team

[edit] Individual Playing honours

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ "Inter Squad". Inter.it. http://www.inter.it/aas/squadra/index?L=en. Retrieved on 2007-08-01. 
  2. ^ "Figo Stats". FootballDatabase.com. http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=player&Id=715&b=true&pn=Lu%C3%ADs_Filipe_Madeira_Caeiro. Retrieved on 2006-12-23. 
  3. ^ transfer markt
  4. ^ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=647153&sec=europe&&cc=5901
  5. ^ "Figo officially announces retirement". AFP. 2009-05-30. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jX2hLJMwOmNblLr3RUU_SGAnUoJQ. Retrieved on 2009-05-30. 
  6. ^ Luis Figo gebührend verabschiedet

[edit] External links

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