Eusébio da Silva Ferreira

Eusébio:

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, GCIH, GCM (born 25 January 1942),commonly known as simply Eusébio, is a Portuguese former football forward of Mozambican origin, considered one of the best footballers of all-time. He helped the Portuguese national team reach third place at the 1966 World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament with nine goals (six of which were scored at Goodison Park) and was elected the European Footballer of the Year in 1965. He played for Sport Lisboa e Benfica for 15 years, and is the team's all-time top scorer.

Nicknamed "The Black Panther", or "The Black Pearl", Eusébio scored 727 goals in 715 games. He is also known for his speed and his powerful, accurate right-footed strike. He is considered Benfica's and Portugal's most renowned player and the first world-class African striker. He was elected the 9th best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS. Pelé named Eusébio as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. 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.


Club career

Eusébio was born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique). He moved to Lisbon in his late teens, and in 1961, Eusébio joined Sport Lisboa e Benfica as an 18-year-old from his local club, Sporting Club of Lourenço Marques, for £7,500. The move was controversial however: Sporting Lourenço Marques was a subsidiary of Sporting Clube de Portugal and the two rivals disputed him. Benfica discovered Eusébio due to the former Brazilian player José Carlos Bauer, who saw him in Lourenço Marques in 1960. Bauer indicated Eusébio first to his former club, São Paulo FC, but the Tricolor denied. After this, he talked about Eusébio with his former coach in São Paulo, Béla Guttmann, who was coaching Benfica at the time.

In 1962, he won the European Cup with Benfica, scoring two goals in the final against Real Madrid. Benfica won 5-3. Benfica were also European Cup runners-up in 1963, 1965 and 1968.

He was the 1965 European Footballer of the Year and in 1968 was the first winner of the Golden Boot Award, as Europe's leading scorer, a feat he repeated five years later. The Portuguese First Division's top scorer seven times from 1964 to 1973, he helped Benfica to 11 league championships (1961, 1963-65, 1967-69, 1971-73, 1975) and five cup wins (1962, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1972). He scored 727 goals in 715 matches wearing Benfica's jersey,including 317 goals in 301 Portuguese league matches.
In 1976-77 and 1977-78, Eusébio played for two minor Portuguese teams, Beira-Mar, in I Division, and União de Tomar, in the II Division.

He also played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), for three different teams, from 1975 to 1977: Boston Minutemen (1975), Toronto Metros-Croatia (1976), and the Las Vegas Quicksilver (1977). His most successful season in the NASL was in 1976 with Toronto Metros-Croatia. He scored in their 3-0 victory at the 76 Soccer Bowl to win the NASL title. The same year, he played ten games for Monterrey in the Mexican league.

The following season (1977), he signed for the Las Vegas Quicksilver. This was to be a very disappointing end to Eusébio's career. By this time, injuries had taken their toll on The Black Panther, and he was constantly receiving medical treatment whilst playing for the Quicksilver. During the season he only managed to score two goals.
Although his knees robbed him of his ability to continue in the NASL, Eusébio wanted to continue to play soccer. He found a home in 1978 with the New Jersey Americans of the second-tier American Soccer League (ASL). He was forced to retire for good at the conclusion of the season.


Honours

Club

Sporting Clube Lourenço Marques

* League Moçambique
o 1960

Benfica

* Portuguese First Division
o 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975

* Portuguese Cup
o 1962, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1972

* European Cup
o 1961, 1962

* Cup of Honour (Taça de Honra)
o 1962/63, 1964/65, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1968/69, 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75

* Ribeiro dos Reis Cup (Taça de Ribeiro dos Reis)
o 1963/64, 1965/66, 1970/71

Toronto Metros-Croatia

* North American Soccer League (NASL)
o 1976

Country

Portugal
o World Cup: third place (1966)

Individual

*
o Silver European Footballer of the Year (1962)
o Portuguese First Division top scorer (28 goals)
o European Footballer of the Year (1965)
o European Cup Top Scorer (1965; 9 goals)
o World Soccer Player of the Year (1965)
o Portuguese First Division top scorer (28 goals)
o 1966 World Cup top scorer (9 goals)
o Silver European Footballer of the Year France Football (1966)
o Portuguese First Division top scorer (25 goals)
o European Cup Top Scorer: (7 goals) 1966
o Portuguese First Division top scorer:(31 goals)
o European Cup Top Scorer: (6 goals) 1968
o Golden Boot: 1968, 1973 (42, 40 goals, respectively)
o Portuguese First Division top scorer (42 goals)
o Portuguese Golden Ball career award (1991)
o Portuguese Player (Athlete) of the Year (1970)
o Portuguese First Division top scorer (40 goals)
o Portuguese Player (Athlete) of the Year (1973)
o Total goals in career (1957–1978): 1137.