Eusebio

Eusébio

Eusébio in 1963
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)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1957–1960	Sporting de Lourenço Marques	42	(77)
1960–1975	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)
Total		431	(423)
National team
1961–1973	Portugal	64	(41)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira GCIH, GCM (Portuguese pronunciation: [ewˈzɛβju ðɐ ˈsiɫvɐ fɨˈʁɐjɾɐ]; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014) was a Portuguesefootballer who played as a striker. Eusébio is considered by many as one of the greatest footballers of all time. During his professional career, he scored 749 goals in 745 matches at club level and 41 goals for his national team, a total of 790 goals.

Nicknamed the Black Panther, the Black Pearl, or o Rei (the King), he was known for his speed, technique, athleticism and his ferocious right-footed shot, making him a prolific goalscorer. He is considered S.L. Benfica's and the Portugal national team's most renowned player and one of the first world-class African-born players.

He helped Portugal reach third place at the 1966 World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals (including four in one match against North Korea) and received the Bronze Ball award. He won the Ballon d'Or award for European footballer of the year in 1965 and was runner-up in 1962 and 1966. He played for Benfica for 15 out of his 22 years as a footballer, thus being mainly associated with the Portuguese club, and is the team's all-time top scorer with 638 goals scored in 614 official games. There, he won eleven Primeira Liga titles, five Taça de Portugal titles, a European Cup (1961–62) and helped them reach three additional European Cup finals (1963, 1965, 1968). He is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history of the European Cup and the second-highest, behind Alfredo Di Stéfano, in the pre-Champions League era with 48 goals. He was the European Cup top scorer in 1964–65, 1965–66 and 1967–68. He also won the Bola de Prata (Primeira Liga top scorer award) a record seven times. He was the first ever player to win the European Golden Boot, in 1968, a feat he replicated in 1973.