Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, also known as The Black Panther, The Black Pearl, or O Rei (The King) in Portugal, was born in Lourenco Marques, Mozambique in 1942. He was brought to Portugal in 1961 by Benfica's coach Bela Guttmann who flew down to Africa personally to check Eusebio out after being tipped by Sao Paulo's coach.
Eusébio scored an incredible 733 goals in 745 competitive games in his career. He was known for his speed and his powerful, accurate right-footed strike, making him an outstanding prolific goalscorer. He is considered Benfica's and Portugal's most renowned player and one of the first world-class African strikers.
In the first round groupstage of the 1966 World Cup he tore Brazil apart with a memorable performance scoring twice to eliminate the 1958 and 1962 champions.
Honours: He is considered one of the best footballers of all-time by the IFFHS, experts and fans. 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 receiving the Bronze Ball award. He won the Ballon d'Or award in 1965 and was runners-up in 1962 and 1966. He played for Benfica for 15 years out of his 22 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 11 Primeira Liga titles (1960–1961, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–1967, 1967–1968, 1968–1969, 1970–1971, 1971–1972, 1972–1973 and 1974–1975), 5 Portuguese Cup titles (1961–1962, 1963–1964, 1968–1969, 1969–1970 and 1971–1972), 1 European Cup title (1961–1962) and managed to help them reach three additional European Cup finals (1962–1963, 1964–1965 and 1967–1968). He was the European Cup top scorer in 1965, 1966 and 1968.
| Full name | Eusébio da Silva Ferreira | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 25 January 1942 | ||
| Place of birth | Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
Source: DSG
