Eusébio da Silva Ferreira · Portugal
Photo : Public domain — Panini (Wikimedia Commons)
Eusébio arrived at Benfica in 1960 from Mozambique, then a Portuguese colony, and scored 317 league goals in 301 appearances for the club. He won the European Cup in his second season, scoring twice in the final against Real Madrid, and reached three more finals with a Benfica side that has never been near that level since.
The 1966 World Cup made him internationally famous. Portugal were 3–0 down to North Korea in the quarter-final; Eusébio scored four goals in a row and Portugal won 5–3. He finished the tournament as top scorer with nine and was photographed in tears after the semi-final defeat to England — the image that fixed him in the public memory.
He was known as the Black Panther and played almost his entire career in Lisbon. A statue of him stands outside the Estádio da Luz, and he died in 2014 at seventy-one.
Club career
| Years | Club | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961–1973 | Portugal | 64 | 41 |
Honours
Dashed = runner-up.
Related legends
Career figures compiled from public records. Competitive senior appearances only.