The Best Footballers

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (born January 25, 1942), popularly known simply as Eusébio, is a Mozambican and Portuguese former football forward of Mozambican origin. He helped the Portugal national team reach third place at the 1966 World Cup, being the top goalscorer of the tournament, and was elected the European Footballer of the Year in 1965. He played at the club Benfica for 15 years, and is the team’s all-time top scorer.

Nicknamed “The Black Panther”, or “The Black Pearl”, Eusébio was notable 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.

Eusébio was born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique. He moved to Portugal in his late teens, and in 1961, Eusébio joined Benfica as a 19 year old from his local club, Sporting Club of Lourenço Marques, for £7500.

In 1962, he won the European Cup with Benfica, scoring two goals in the final against Real Madrid CF. Benfica won 5-3. Benfica were also European Cup runners-up in 1963, 1965 and 1968 (when they were beaten by Manchester United in the final).

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 5 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, SC 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 Las Vegas Quicksilver (1977). His most successful season in the NASL was in 1976 with the Toronto Metros. 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 CF Monterrey in the Mexican league.

The following season (1977) he signed for the Las Vegas Quicksilvers. This was to be a very disappointing end to Eusébio’s glorious career. By this time injuries had taken their toll on the Black Panther, and he was constantly receiving medical treatment whilst playing for the Quicksilvers. During the season he only managed to score 2 goals, a poor return for a striker of his calibre.

Although his knees robbed him of his ability to continue in the NASL, Eusebio wanted to continue to play soccer. He found a home in 1978 with the New Jersey Americans of the second-tier American Soccer League (ALS). A man among boys, Eusebio had a solid season, but as forced to retire for good at the conclusion of the season.

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