Profile Football Stars | Luís Figo | 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 football players to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. He had a career highlighted by Several Successful trophy wins, Such as one Portuguese Cup, four La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Champions League titles, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, four Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and Italian Super Cups three. Figo started his career at Sporting CP. He won his first senior international cap in 1991. Prior to that, he won the Under-21 World Championships and Under-16 European Championships with Portugal junior sides, alongside Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and he was also a significant part of Portugal's "Golden Generation".
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 fee of £ 2.25 million, 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 Barcelona, scoring 30 goals. In 2000, Figo made a hugely controversial move to Barcelona's bitter rivals Real Madrid. Figo's arrival signaled the beginning of Florentino Pérez's' Galactico era ". With Madrid Figo won La Liga in 2001 and 2003 as well as the 2001-02 Champions League.
During the summer of 2008, Figo's compatriot José Mourinho joined Inter on a managerial level. On 16 May 2009, Figo Announced his retirement from football, the same day Internazionale won the 2008-09 title, and re-confirmed this on 30 May; his final game was on 31 May against Atalanta at the San Siro. At Javier Zanetti's insistence, Figo captained the side for his very last match. Figo said, "I am leaving football, not Inter. Luis Figo was on the sidelines when Internazionale Milano won the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League on 22 May 2010.
Figo captained the squad during the 2006 World Cup, leading the team to the semi-finals, where They were beaten by France courtesy of a penalty from his club-mate and former French captain Zinedine Zidane. The third place playoff Controversy Caused some as Figo did not start; Pauleta captained the team in his place. However, Portugal fell behind 2-0 to hosts Germany and Figo replaced Pauleta in the 77th minute, who handed him back the captain's armband, to cheers from both Portuguese and German fans. Despite having no trophies to show for the "Golden Generation," Figo managed to captain the team to Their best World Cup performance since the Eusebio era in 1966. He finished his international career with 127 caps and scoring 32 goals.
Personal information
Full name Luís Filipe Madeira Figo Caeiro
Date of birth 4 November 1972 (age 39)
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder / Winger
Youth career
União de Pastilhas
1984-1989 Sporting CP
Senior careeryears Team
1989-1995 Sporting CP 137 (16)
Barcelona 1995-2000 172 (30)
2000-2005 Real Madrid 164 (36)
Internazionale 2005-2009 105 (9)
Total 579 (91)
National team
1991-2006 Portugal 127 (32)
Honours
Club
Sporting CP
Taça de Portugal (1): 1995
Barcelona
La Liga (2): 1997-98, 1998-99
Copa del Rey (2): 1997, 1998
Supercopa de España (1): 1996
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1997
UEFA Super Cup (1): 1997
Real Madrid
La Liga (2): 2000-01, 2002-03
Supercopa de España (2): 2001, 2003
UEFA Champions League (1): 2002
UEFA Super Cup (1): 2002
Intercontinental Cup (1): 2002
Internazionale
Serie A (4): 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09
Coppa Italia (1): 2006
Supercoppa Italiana (3): 2005, 2006, 2008
Portugal
FIFA World Cup (1): 2006 Fourth Place
UEFA European Football Championship (2): 2000 Semi Finalist,
2004 Runner-Up
FIFA U-20 World Cup (1): 1991
UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship (1): 1989
UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship (1): 1994 Runner-Up
Individual
Figo's Ballon d'Or
Ballon d'Or (1): 2000
FIFA World Player of the Year (1): 2001
World Soccer Player of the Year (1): 2000
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team (1): 2006
UEFA Euro All-Star Team (2): 2000, 2004
UEFA Team of the Year (1): 2003
La Liga Foreign Player of the Year (3): 1999, 2000, 2001
Portuguese Footballer of the Year (6): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
Portuguese Golden Ball (1): 1994
FIFA 100
