43 Facts About Luis Figo

Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo OIH is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.

Luis Figo won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-time record that has since been bettered by Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Joao Moutinho.

Luis Figo is considered one of the best Portuguese football players of all time.

Luis Figo won the 2000 Ballon d'Or, 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and in 2004 Pele named him in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

Luis Figo is one of the few football players to have played for both Spanish rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Related searches

Luis Figo had a successful career highlighted by several trophy wins, including the Portuguese Cup, four La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Champions League title, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, four Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and three Italian Super Cups.

Luis Figo began his career as a street footballer at U FC Os Pastilhas, before joining the academy of Sporting Clube de Portugal at the age of 12.

Luis Figo was a significant part of Portugal's "Golden Generation".

In 1995, Luis Figo looked poised to join one of the big clubs of Europe, but a dispute between Italian clubs Juventus and Parma, with Luis Figo having signed contracts with both clubs, resulted in an Italian two-year transfer ban on him.

In total, Luis Figo appeared 172 times in the league for Barcelona, scoring 30 goals.

Luis Figo was revered in Barcelona because his presence had given Catalonia a sense of external approval.

Luis Figo became the new focus of the Barcelona–Real Madrid rivalry, with Barcelona fans feeling betrayed by his transfer and turning against him.

Luis Figo's move to Madrid was significant due to his status as a star player at Barcelona, reliable, and always committed to the cause as a team leader.

When Luis Figo returned to Barcelona for the first time in a Real Madrid shirt on 21 October 2000, the noise at Camp Nou was deafening.

Luis Figo was mercilessly taunted throughout, and when he came out of the tunnel and ran onto the field the jeers of almost 98,000 Barcelona fans escalated, with a visibly shocked Luis Figo putting his fingers to his ears.

When El Clasico started, each time Luis Figo got the ball the noise rose with insults and missiles flying such as oranges, bottles, cigarette lighters and mobile phones.

The regular corner taker for Madrid, Luis Figo did not take any corners at the Camp Nou to avoid being in close proximity to the fans.

Luis Figo missed two fixtures against Barcelona through injury and suspension.

Luis Figo would spend five seasons at Madrid, with his final success being the 2003 La Liga title.

Luis Figo left Real Madrid to join the Italian club Inter Milan in the middle of 2005 on a free transfer after his contract with Madrid had expired.

Luis Figo received a standing ovation from the crowd as he was substituted by Davide Santon.

Luis Figo scored three goals in eight qualifying games for UEFA Euro 1996, as his country reached the continental tournament for the first time in 12 years.

Luis Figo featured in all ten of Portugal's qualifiers for the next European Championship, scoring three times in the process.

Luis Figo was rested by Humberto Coelho for the final group match against Germany in Rotterdam, breaking a chain of 32 consecutive international appearances.

Luis Figo announced his retirement from international football following the Euro 2004 final upset-defeat by Greece due to an alleged rift between him and national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, although this was denied.

Related searches

Luis Figo captained the squad during the 2006 World Cup, leading the team to the semi-finals.

Luis Figo did not take part in the shootout, having been substituted for Helder Postiga.

The third-place playoff caused some controversy as Luis Figo did not start; Pauleta captained the team in his place.

Luis Figo finished his international career with 127 caps and scoring 32 goals, and held the record until June 2016 for most appearances with the Portugal national team; he is Portugal's fourth-highest all-time goalscorer.

Luis Figo is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the greatest Portuguese players of all time.

At his physical peak, Luis Figo was a quick, agile, physically strong, elegant, highly skillful player with close control, fluidity, grace, acceleration, agility, quick feet, balance, flair and a dribbling ability that allowed him to frequently take on and beat defenders in one on one situations.

Luis Figo was usually deployed as a winger in his early career, where he was capable of providing several assists, due to his ability to provide curling crosses to teammates from the right flank, or cut inside, drift onto the left, or link-up with midfielders, and create goalscoring opportunities.

Luis Figo has made the second-most assists in La Liga history behind Lionel Messi.

Luis Figo has appeared in commercials for the sportswear company Nike.

In 2018, Luis Figo was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in FIFA 19.

Luis Figo has taken part in several Iranian television shows such as Navad TV during the 2018 World Cup draw, together with Hamid Estili and former Hamburg player Mehdi Mahdavikia.

On 28 January 2015, Luis Figo announced his intention to run against incumbent Sepp Blatter for the position of FIFA president.

Luis Figo owns an upscale bar in the Algarve region of Portugal.

Luis Figo is an ambassador for the Stop TB Partnership in the fight against tuberculosis.

Luis Figo is a board member of the Inter Campus charity project run by Inter Milan.

Luis Figo is the founder of Network90, a private members' networking site for the Professional Football Industry.

Luis Figo is fluent in five languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French.

Luis Figo has congratulated his wife on her birthday on Instagram in Swedish, although he has never spoken the language in media appearances.