The End of Loyalty Trivia Quiz

Answer: Luis Figo

Luis Figo started his career in his native Portugal's Sporting CP. After six years with the club, talent scouts from some of the best teams in Europe were looking to have Figo play for them, including Juventus, Manchester City, and Parma. Figo signed with Barcelona in 1995 and had become an emblem for the Catalan club. Figo's victories with Barcelona included two league championships, two Copa del Rey trophies, and an UEFA Super Cup. Figo, who had become the team's captain, was unhappy with his pay and began looking for new clubs through his agent. At the same time, businessman Florentino Perez was seeking Real Madrid's presidency and promised to bring Figo to play for the "Galacticos" if he won. Figo at first denied that he was considering the move, but in July 2000, Perez won the elections and fulfilled his promise of signing Figo.

On October 21, 2000, Real Madrid visited Camp Nou to play the "Clasico" against Barcelona. Figo had to be escorted by police since the Barcelona fans were seriously angry. When he jumped into the field, fans exploded against the Portuguese player, yelling all kinds of insults at him and throwing fake money into the stadium. Fans also burned Figo's Barcelona shirt. Visibly upset, Figo briefly covered his ears, and wouldn't come back to Camp Nou the year after this match.

Two years passed, and Barcelona was set to receive Madrid again at Camp Nou. This time, Figo took corner kicks (which he didn't do the last time) while security controlled fans who were shouting and throwing objects at him, including a pig's head.

Answer: Manchester United

Robin Van Persie started his career in Feyenoord, where he won an UEFA Cup in 2002. In 2004, the forward moved to England to play with Arsenal. He alternated between playing on the main squad and sitting on the bench for that year, but he became one of Arsenal's most important players on offense in the subsequent seasons.

In 2012, Van Persie announced that he would not be renewing his contract with Arsenal, but fans were shocked to learn that he chose Manchester United, one of Arsenal's main rivals, as his next club. Fans of the "Gunners" recorded videos of themselves burning Van Persie's Arsenal jersey and threw many insults at the player, such as "slithering snake".

Answer: Juventus

Zlatan Ibrahimovic started his career in his home country of Sweden in 1999. The player is recognized as one of the best of his time, but also someone with a very big ego. When he was playing for his first club, Malmö FF, Arsenal offered him a trial, but the player refused because "Zlatan doesn't do auditions".

He went on to join Ajax in the Netherlands, where he stayed between 2001 and 2004 after which he transferred to the Italian club Juventus. The Juve became known as the "Vecchia Signora" or "old lady" because the team's owners were British aristocrats and the lower classes would call those in higher classes "old men", though the nickname later took the feminine form.

In 2006, Juventus were involved in a match-fixing scandal that ended in their relegation to a lower division and them being stripped of their league championship. Due to this event, Ibrahimovic refused to renew his contract and took an offer from Inter Milan, one of Italy's best clubs and a rival of Juventus.

Answer: Milan

Ronaldo was one of the best strikers of his time, earning several awards throughout his career like the 2002 World Cup Golden Shoe (for being the tournament's top scorer) and the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in 1997 and 2002. He started his career in Brazil's Cruzeiro in 1993 and quickly transferred to PSV in the Netherlands the following year.

He had a brief stint in Barcelona, including a famous goal against SD Compostela that left the world thinking he was "the next Pele". Ronaldo signed for Italy's Inter Milan in 1997 for a record transfer fee, and successfully stayed there until 2002, when he returned to Spain to play for Barcelona's nemesis, Real Madrid.

His first years there earned Madrid one league championship and an Intercontinental Cup, but unfortunately, he accumulated injuries and had problems with his weight that led manager Fabio Capello to exclude him from the main squad.

He signed for AC Milan in 2007, returning to the Italian city and becoming one of the few players in history to play for both Milanese teams.

Answer: Turkey

Emre Belozoglu started his youth career at the Turkish clubs of Zeytinburnuspor and Galatasaray, and in 1996, he was promoted to the latter team's main squad. In his time there, he scored more than 20 goals and won multiple national and international championships.

His talent allowed him to play for two important European teams, Inter Milan and Newcastle United, before going back home. However, Galatasaray fans were furious to find out that Belozoglu had accepted an offer to sign with rival Fenerbahce.

He incensed them even more when he stated that he was a fan of this club since he was younger. He also played for Atletico de Madrid and Istanbul Basaksehir F.K. before returning to Fenerbahce to retire in 2020.

Answer: America

Oribe Peralta's career, unfortunately, took off years after his debut. He started playing for Morelia in 2003 and had brief stints in Leon and Monterrey. In 2006, Peralta joined Santos Laguna and started having much more success as a striker, scoring more than 80 goals between 2006 and 2014 playing for both Santos and Chiapas. Peralta's performance in the 2012 Olympic Games was essential for Mexico's historic gold medal. He also contributed to Mexico's hard-fought 2014 World Cup journey by scoring goals both at the qualifiers and repechage stages, as well as a goal against Cameroon in the Brazil World Cup of that same year. He signed for America in early 2014 and stayed there until 2019 when he controversially moved to Chivas, America's archrival. At this point, his career started to decline and his goal-scoring numbers dramatically fell.

Club America is one of the most successful teams in Mexican football history and plays their home games at the historic Estadio Azteca, in Mexico City.

Answer: River Plate

Oscar Ruggeri played as a defender for clubs in Argentina, Italy, Spain, and Mexico. His 17-year career achievements included a FIFA World Cup in 1986, two Copa America trophies in 1991 and 1993, and several league championships in Argentina and Spain. Ruggeri developed as a youth player in Boca Juniors, a Buenos Aires team that is one of the most popular in the country.

He was promoted to the main squad and played there between 1980 and 1985 alongside stars like Diego Maradona. In 1985, Boca was about to go bankrupt and transferred Ruggeri to their biggest rival, River Plate. Also based in Buenos Aires, River Plate was founded in 1901 and 15 league championships and more than 10 international tournaments. Ruggeri's move enraged the Boca Juniors "hinchas" (the term for Argentine football fans) so much that they set fire to his house when his parents were inside.

He retired in 1997 with Lanus and shortly after that began his career as a coach.

Answer: Champions League

Most of Mario Gotze's youth career developed at Borussia Dortmund, which signed him to their main squad in 2009. Gotze, who has been lauded as one of the best German talents of his time, spent four years at Dortmund until he was transferred to Bayern Munich in 2013. Bayern and Borussia are two of Germany's most popular clubs, and their matches are classified as derbies called "Der Klassiker". Gotze announced he was moving just a few days before Borussia was set to face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, which angered fans and his own coach Jurgen Klopp. Gotze's transfer is one of the most expensive in German football history.

Interestingly, that Champions League final was played between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, with the team from Munich winning the match by one goal.

Answer: Red

Steven Defour's professional career started in 2004 in Genk. He moved to Standard Liege in 2006 and became the team's captain. In 2011, he moved to Portugal to play for Porto, ending constant rumors that he would sign for Manchester United. After Porto, Defour made the controversial decision to go back to Belgium to play for Standard Liege's rival, Anderlecht. Fans were so angry that on a January 2015 match played in Standard's stadium, a giant banner was displayed from the stands with the words "red or dead" on it and a picture of a masked villain holding Defour's severed head. Halfway through the match, Defour kicked the ball in the direction of the stands where Standard Liege fans were seated. Even though he claimed he kicked the ball out to allow an injured player to receive assistance, the referee sent him off since he had already kicked the ball in the same way earlier in the game.

The match resumed after Defour left the pitch, though things got heated in the stands to the point that Anderlecht fans destroyed their seats and threw them into the field.

Answer: Gonzalo Higuain

Gonzalo Higuain has had a long and decorated career both at the club and international level. With Real Madrid in Spain, he won three league championships, a Copa del Rey, and two Spain Supercups. Higuain signed for Napoli in 2013 and scored more than 20 goals in his first season.

He was beloved by the fans in that Italian city until 2016, when he moved to one of Napoli's biggest rivals: Juventus. The player stated that his relationship with film producer and club president Aurelio De Laurentiis was poor and that was the reason he left, but Napoli fans did not forgive him.

His Napoli jerseys were destroyed and his image was permanently harmed, so much so that a Naples rapper called Enzo Dong wrote a song with the lyrics "I only have fun if Higuain is dead". Higuain moved to the United States in 2020 to play for the new MLS club Inter Miami.