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Luis Figo becomes UEFA football adviser

October 11, 2017

Former world player of the year Luis Figo will be an adviser and ambassador, the latest former player appointed by UEFA's president, Aleksander Ceferin. Figo's shown himself to be a political animal since retiring.

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UEFA announced on Wednesday that former Portugal international Luis Figo would be starting work as a football ambassador and adviser for European football's governing body. 

Figo is the third high-profile former international — after longtime German women's keeper Nadine Kessler and Serbian and Serie A mainstay Dejan Stankovic — to take up roles underneath UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin. Figo, Kessler and Stankovic will work in particular with UEFA's "Football Division," a team focused technical aspects, the laws of the game and football's overall attractiveness. 

Figo wrote on Twitter that he was very honored, also thanking Ceferin "for the trust and confidence." 

"I have been lucky to gain a wealth of experience and I believe I can have a positive influence in passing on my knowledge," Figo said in a statement. "Football is constantly evolving. I am privileged to be involved with UEFA and I would like to thank Aleksander Ceferin for giving me this opportunity." 

The former world player of the year, who played both for Real Madrid and Barcelona, is a keen golf enthusiast but has remained close to the world of football since hanging up his boots in 2009. This became most visible at the height of FIFA's corruption scandal, when Figo briefly threw his hat in the ring for the role of FIFA president. He pulled out of the race early, calling the process "anything but an election." This 2015 process delivered Sepp Blatter his last mandate, as expected, only for Blatter to announce he would quit days afterwards as FBI investigators crashed FIFA's congress in Zurich. 

UEFA's Ceferin described Figo on Wednesday as "a fantastic player who was exemplary in the way he conducted himself both on and of the pitch."

msh (AFP, Reuters)