UP270 The Figo Affair

Our guests today are Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn, the creators behind a new Netflix documentary, The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football. The film chronicles a three week period in 2000 when the superstar Portuguese player Luis Figo left Barcelona for arch rivals Real Madrid. The result was a political storm, the legacy of which remains in place today. The deal heralded the beginning of Real Madrid’s galáctico era and with it a shift in how football transfer market works, all told by a cast including some very familiar faces, such as Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid president Florent Perez. We talk about how Netflix works, the problem of sourcing archive footage and the motives of famous sports stars when it comes to making high profile documentaries. This podcast is sponsored by Leaders Week London, which kicks off on Monday 26th September and culminates in the two day Leaders Summit at Twickenham Stadium in west London on the 28th and 29th. See the full Leaders Week agenda via leadersinsport.com/UP and as a listener to Unofficial Partner you can bag a 15% discount on your pass for The Summit, just enter the discount code ‘UP15’ at the checkout.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.