The international platform Netflix premiered this week ‘The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football (The Figo case: The transfer of the century)’, a documentary that talks about the transfer of Luís Figo, who was a figure and captain of FC Barcelona, by Real Madrid in the year 1995. The film is directed by David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas, and produced by Pitch Productions.
After 18 years, a documentary appears that examines in depth all the details of that controversial signing. The testimonies of the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez; Luís Figo and his agent, at that time, José Veiga.
‘The Figo case: The transfer of the century’ is the result of extensive research, with more than 26 hours of interviews with his 12 main participants; as reported by the news agency Efe.
Who else appears in the documentary?
Likewise, it has several Spanish football celebrities, such as: Joan Gaspart, former president of Barcelona; Paulo Futre, former Portuguese soccer player; Pep Guardiola, former Barca footballer and current manager of Manchester City; Roberto Carlos and Fernando Hierro, Figo’s former teammates at Real Madrid; as well as Jorge Valdano, former general director of Real Madrid, and the journalist José Ramón de la Morena.
“By focusing on the transfer rather than on Figo’s career, the film shows us different sides of the truth, greed, morality and the evolution of an entire sport: the birth of football as a big amoral business over romantic notions of loyalty; not to mention the origin story of Florentino Pérez”, declared the directors of the film.
Last Thursday, the day of its premiere, ‘The Figo case: The signing of the century’ did not go unnoticed on social networks, especially on Twitter. Most opinions describe it as “surprising”, and agree that every football lover would like to see it.
Luís Figo is considered one of the best footballers in the history of Portugal. He played for Sporting Club (550-1995), FC Barcelona (1995-2000), Real Madrid (2000-2005) and Inter Milan. In the year 2000, just when he signed for the merengue team, he won the Ballon d’Or.