Football's Secret Trade

Chapter 2The Chess Champion

Juan Figer's greatest asset was the brain that had helped him become a chess champion in his youth. His droopy eyelids and slouching posture would make visitors to his sound-proof sixth-floor office near São Paulo's busy Avenida Paulista think he was about to fall asleep in his leather chair, but he was more likely running the numbers on his next deal. He understood the dynamics of the football transfer market as well as anyone.

Figer, a descendant of Polish immigrants to Uruguay, had worked at Peñarol, a leading team in Montevideo, in his 20s. South American teams typically had several other sports sections that ranged from rowing to water polo, and Figer was at one point head of Peñarol's chess department.

At the age of 34 he went to join his brother, who was living in São Paulo. In 1970, he arranged for Peñarol to play a friendly match against Flamengo in the Maracanã Stadium and oversaw defender Pablo Forlán's move to join São Paulo from Peñarol for an $80,000 fee. “At the time there weren't any big financial figures, people didn't get involved to become rich,” Figer would later say of South American football.

That year, Pelé was wowing football fans around the world. With their canary yellow shirts on colour television for the first time, he led Brazil to a record third World Cup title in Mexico City. A 4-1 win against Italy in the final was rounded off with a flourish. Pelé nonchalantly controlled the ball and flicked it into the path of right-back ...