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Luís Figo

Current club: Internazionale
Number: 7

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, born November 4, 1972 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese football player who is widely regarded as one of the world's top players of recent years. In his homeland Figo is considered by some second only to Eusebio as Portugal’s greatest player. He plays as a midfielder and winger, currently for Inter Milan.

Known as the original Golden Boy (a name which now belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo, a teammate from the Portugal national football team), Figo gained fame as the main soccer player behind Portugal's prominent Golden Generation that consisted of fellow legends like Rui Costa, and was the reason why the term came into use.

Figo was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was named amongst the FIFA 100. Known for his exceptional trickery and dribbling skills on either wing (though he predominantly plays on the right), Figo is one of the few soccer players to have played for both the Spanish rival clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

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, at 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, gracing Euro 96, Euro 2000, and the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup. He announced his retirement from international soccer 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 2006 World Cup qualifying wins against Slovakia and Estonia. He again vowed to retire from international soccer after the 2006 World Cup and made a cameo appearance (played around 10 minutes at the end of the game) in Portugal's last game of the tournament, the third-place play-off, in which he set up Portugal's only goal for Nuno Gomes.

It was with FC Barcelona from 1995 that the career of the 'Lion King' 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. Figo was able to garner many plaudits while at the Nou Camp, such as Sir Alex Ferguson, who it has been later claimed almost brought him to Manchester United before Euro 2000 in a swap deal with David Beckham.

In 2000 came his controversial, world-record transfer to Real Madrid CF. The move caused outrage among Barcelona fans and many others baulked at the €65m fee. Yet Figo justified the investment by helping Madrid to the Primera División title and UEFA Champions League semi-finals as well as winning the FIFA World Footballer of the Year award. In 2001/02, he went one better, playing through injury against Bayer Leverkusen as Madrid prevailed 2-1. Figo also occupied a major role as Madrid won the 2003 Spanish title, scoring ten times. The success made up for the disappointment of a Champions League semi-final loss to Juventus F.C., but the next season, despite Figo's nine league goals, Madrid finished fourth and lost in the Champions League last eight and Copa del Rey final.

He struck four goals in the Champions League group stage in 2004/2005 but it was another mixed campaign for Madrid, Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo had a falling-out with Figo after he relegated the Portugal international to the bench for the second half of the 2004/2005 Primera Liga season and David Beckham was moved to the right. It was widely believed that Figo would leave Los Merengues for first-team soccer elsewhere. During the off-season, he was linked with a move to the English Premiership with Liverpool or to Serie A's Inter Milan. Given permission to leave by Madrid, on August 5, 2005, Figo moved to Inter on a free transfer and a two-year deal worth £6 million.

In December 2006, Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad reported Figo would transfer to the club in January 2007. Figo traveled to Saudi Arabia to sign a contract, but after talks with Inter Milan owner and President Massimo Moratti, Figo remained in the club and renewed his contract until the end of the 2007-08 season. Thus, a statement made on January 3, 2007, on the official Inter website declaring: "There are no negotiations for the transfer of Luis Figo to another club. The recent news of a possible transfer of the Portuguese midfielder is, therefore, completely groundless." (Inter.it) Despite this statement, on January 5th, 2007, it was announced on the website of La Gazzetta dello Sport, that Figo had signed a contract in Saudi Arabia, starting on July 1st, 2007. On May 29, 2007, in a spectacular about-face, Luis Figo broke off his deal with the Al Ittihad club, saying that they hadn't fullfiled their obligations. On June 10, 2007, Figo renewed his contract until June 30, 2008 and will afterwards take a directorial role at Inter.