When the best player in the world is your greatest sellable asset, you have to get the full value. But then, what if he wants to leave? The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football presents the inside story of one of modern football’s most controversial and divisive transfers.
–The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football Review Doesn’t Contain Any Spoilers-
The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football Highlighted The Biggest Scandal
The Netflix documentary, The Figo Affair, tells the story of one of football’s most infamous transfer stories — that of Luís Figo’s move from Barcelona to Real Madrid. The transfer of Luís Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid in 2000 is one of the world’s most controversial. A veritable who’s who of celebrities, superstar sportsmen and agents, The Figo Affair illuminates the facts behind the story with unprecedented insight from all sides.
Luis Figo, a pillar of Spain’s famed “Dream Team”, shocked the football world when he agreed to move to their fiercest rivals, FC Barcelona and proceed from hero to villain in the eyes of many Barca fans in one fell swoop.
It’s not just the goslings on the pitch, or even the goal-hanging ref, that have been through a rollercoaster of emotions this season. A documentary about football also has plenty of thrills and spills for armchair fans, as Netflix’s The Figo Affair (Dirs: Gavin Emmers and Nuno Andrade) reveals.
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An International Incident With Lasting Repercussions is Seen in The Figo Affair
The secrecy, intrigue and deceit that accompanied Luis Figo’s move from Barcelona to Real Madrid more than a decade ago is the backdrop for this film of the same name. It gets all the conspirators on camera – some willingly and others under duress – while using footage of crucial meetings and telephone calls.
Luis Figo is a footballing legend who has enjoyed an illustrious career. Even today, almost 20 years after the fact, his cross-city move from FC Barcelona to Real Madrid is one of the most contentious transfers in Europe’s top sports league. Fortunately for us, Netflix has presented us with an excellent documentary that even casual football fans can enjoy and learn from.
In the summer of 2000, a transfer took place. Figo left Barcelona and joined Real Madrid. It was a historic move not just because of the sheer amount of money involved but also due to how it happened.
The Figo Affair Talks About a Moment of Opportunity Far Bigger Than the Game
The player transfers from one Spanish club to another without informing his current club first, taking advantage of a legal loophole. The move changed football forever. It was the beginning of a new era in which club’s realized that they could exploit player power and refused to be treated like feudal masters. The move ended up sparking a series of activities that forever changed the European landscape of top-level football.
If we had to choose a single documentary that provides the most entertaining transfer saga of all time, it would be hard not to choose The Figo Affair. Never has a transfer been so contentious or spectacular. Never was a transfer so scrutinized nor so costly in its consequences. Never has a transfer been so loaded in narratives and political implications.
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Stream It or Skip It?
Without trying to give away any spoilers, The Transfer that Changed Football is a documentary on the move of Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid. It narrates his reasons for leaving the Catalan team and what happened when he declared his intentions whilst simultaneously recounting his experience in Real Madrid . This tremendous pressure comes with being their star player, the feeling of playing for one of the most influential teams in the world and how things eventually unravelled.
The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football is currently streaming on Netflix.