Eusébio

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Silva and the second or paternal family name is Ferreira.

Eusébio
Eusébio with Benfica in 1973
Personal information
Full name Eusébio da Silva Ferreira
Date of birth (1942-01-25)25 January 1942
Place of birth Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique
Date of death 5 January 2014(2014-01-05) (aged 71)
Place of death Lisbon, Portugal
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Sporting Lourenço Marques
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1957–1960 Sporting Lourenço Marques 42 (77)
1961–1975 Benfica 301 (317)
1975 Boston Minutemen 7 (2)
1975 Monterrey 10 (1)
1975–1976 Toronto Metros-Croatia 21 (16)
1976 Beira-Mar 12 (3)
1976–1977 Las Vegas Quicksilvers 17 (2)
1977–1978 União de Tomar 12 (3)
1978–1979 New Jersey Americans 9 (2)
1979–1980 Buffalo Stallions (indoor) 5 (1)
Total 436 (424)
International career
1961–1973 Portugal[2] 64 (41)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Portugal
FIFA World Cup
1966 England
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira GCIH GCM (European Portuguese: [ewˈzɛβju ðɐ ˈsilvɐ fɨˈʁɐjɾɐ]; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther",[3] the "Black Pearl"[4] or "O Rei" ("The King"),[5][6] was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time[7][8] as well as Benfica's best player ever.[9] He was known for his speed, technique, athleticism and right-footed shot, making him a prolific goalscorer, accumulating 733 goals in 745 matches.[8] Eusébio was the first ever player to win European Golden Boot, World Cup Golden Boot and UCL Golden Boot. In the UEFA Champions League, he ranks second for the all-time Portuguese top goalscorers, scoring 47 goals.[10]

Eusébio helped Portugal reach third place at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals.[11] He remains Portugal's all-time top scorer at the World Cup. He won the Ballon d'Or in 1965 and was runner-up in 1962 and 1966. He is Benfica's all-time top scorer with 473 goals in 440 competitive matches. There, his honours include eleven Primeira Liga titles and a European Cup, also being integral in reaching additional European Cup finals in 1963, 1965 and 1968. He is the second-highest goalscorer, behind Alfredo Di Stéfano, in the pre-Champions League era of the European Cup with 47 goals. He was the European Cup top scorer in 1964–65, 1965–66 and 1967–68. He also won the Bola de Prata for the Primeira Liga top scorer a record seven times. He was the first ever player to win the European Golden Boot, in 1968, a feat he replicated in 1973.

From his retirement until his death, Eusébio was an ambassador of football and was one of the most recognizable faces of his generation. His name often appears in best player of all time lists and polls by football critics and fans. He was elected the ninth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS and the tenth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the World Soccer magazine.[7] Pelé named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. He was seventh in the online poll for UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Portugal by the Portuguese Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.[12] Shortly after Eusébio's death, Di Stéfano stated: "For me Eusébio will always be the best player of all time".[13]

  1. ^ "Eusébio: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  2. ^ Pierrend, José Luis (29 October 2005). "Eusébio Ferreira da Silva – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  3. ^ "Gone but not forgotten". fifa.com. FIFA. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  4. ^ "From Africa to posterity: How Eusébio lit up the World Cup". The Guardian. 6 June 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Eusébio". dnoticias.Pt. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Segundo António Vitalino Dantas, "Eusébio foi realmente o primeiro e maior futebolista da África e de Portugal" e um "grande embaixador" de Moçambique e de Portugal e é considerado "o rei" do futebol." [According to António Vitalino Dantas, "Eusébio was actually the first and greatest footballer of Africa and Portugal" and a "great ambassador" for Mozambique and Portugal and is considered "the king" of football."]
  6. ^ "Eusébio destaca nível de CR7". noticias-do-futebol.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014. Hoje e sempre o Rei do futebol português, Eusébio ... [Now and always the king of Portuguese football, Eusébio ...]
  7. ^ a b Stokkermans, Karel (30 January 2000). "IFFHS' Century Elections". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Eusebio: Portugal football legend dies aged 71". BBC Sport. 5 January 2014. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  9. ^ "Eusébio vinha para o Sporting mas foi "desviado" pelo Benfica no aeroporto de Lisboa? (Com vídeo)". Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  10. ^ UEFA.com. "The official website for European football". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  11. ^ "Portugal's beloved and brilliant Black Panther". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Golden Players take centre stage". UEFA. 29 November 2003. Archived from the original on 12 March 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Eusebio, 'La Pantera de Mozambique'". MARCA. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.