Narrating the Insider of Luis Figo’s resounding transition in the summer of 2000 from FC Barcelona to archenemy, Real Madrid, the Netflix documentary Century Transmission: Vigo has changed its aspects It also provides us with the appropriate reading grid to better understand today’s transfer window. Because what happened 22 years ago shows that the impossible in football does not exist, especially in terms of employment.
We are in the year 2000, at the dawn of a new century and a third millennium. Luis Figo is the star of FC Barcelona. In Madrid, the newcomer wants to run for the presidency of Real Madrid. His name is Florentino Perez. His program is simple: promoting the club that has just won the Champions League for the second time in three seasons. And for this, you need tinsel. If elected, he promises to bring in one of the best players in the world, Luis Figo. But the Portugal international is a vital part of Barcelona, and his release clause is 60 million euros. More than a fortune at the time.
“You have to think for yourself.”
During the 104 minutes of the documentary, we relive the different phases and developments of this extraordinary transfer. Its actors are telling their truth, Luis Figo in the foreground, without being able to provide the same story from this saga. But more than a search for the truth, the film seeks through its testimonies to show a practical working method in which passions mingle with politics and money.
Between a desire for recognition, loyalty, ego, and big money, the story of Luis Figo’s transition is a perfect case study of the dynamics at work during a transfer of this kind – an understanding, of a football star. At several points of the narrative, we compare the arrival of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain or the non-arrival of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid: the long media chain, the statements of the two camps, the announcements, denials and sums. engaged / engaged.
But the most valuable in the documentary is Viggo’s comments. Through the Golden Ball 2000 Confessions and Memories, we better understand what goes on a player’s mind during these intense moments of negotiations, that attitudes are not static, that passion, family and money have to be taken into account, not always as important and at the same time. And that in the end is the choice of the player who prevails. Luis Figo does not say anything else: “There are important moments when you have to think about yourself.”
