National Museum Portuguese Project
Say ‘Portuguese soccer legend’ and the name of international football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo probably comes to mind. A Portuguese soccer legend he certainly is, but he is not the only one. Although fading from living memory, the name ‘Eusébio’ still causes goosebumps among supporters of the esteemed Portuguese football club Benfica. Eusébio was the Wunderkind of professional European soccer in the 1960s. He exemplified the ultimate striker. Yet, his remarkable ‘poverty to stardom’ story did not begin in Portugal but in the colonial Mozambique. At the time of his death in 2014, The Guardian rightly described him as the “greatest African footballer in the history of the game” because his roots were in Africa and not in Europe.
Eusébio Da Silva Ferreira was born in Lourenço Marques (present-day Maputo), the capital of the colonial Mozambique, in 1942. At the time, Portugal’s dictatorial regime of António Salazar considered Mozambique and the other Portuguese colonies of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé as ‘overseas provinces’ of Portugal. Eusébio’s father was a white Angolan railway worker and his mother a black Mozambican. Eusébio and his friends – among them Joaquim Chissano who later became president of Mozambique – played soccer with a ‘ball’ made of a sock stuffed with newspapers. Sadly, Eusébio’s father passed away when he was only eight, leaving the family without a breadwinner. The young Eusébio did not allow dire circumstances to get the better of him though. He focussed his attention on his budding natural talents: exceptional ball sense and a remarkable kicking ability.
The game of soccer (it originated in England in the mid-19th century as ‘association football’) was brought to Mozambique and the rest of the Portuguese empire by missionaries, traders, colonial bureaucrats and soldiers during Portugal’s long period of colonial rule. Inspired by international soccer heroes of the 1950s, such as Argentine-born Alfredo Di Stéfano, the sport’s popularity rapidly grew among young Mozambican men. In addition to being promoted as a sport, soccer was also used by the Portuguese regime as a tool of cultural imperialism and to pacify an increasingly restless and politicised indigenous population. This occurred during the early 1960s, when the Mozambican liberation movement Renamo succeeded by recruiting thousands of young men for its guerilla army to fight the Portuguese armed forces.
In addition to political consciousness, soccer was also gaining ground among black Mozambican youth. Scouts and coaches of prominent Portuguese clubs, such as Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, and Belenenses, became aware of the exceptional talent among young players in the colonies. Because Portuguese soccer teams were not as competitive as other European teams, Portuguese clubs were eager to contract talented black players for their own teams. One such player was Eusébio, who was first noticed by Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques, a local ‘feeder club’ for the ‘parent club’ Sporting Lisbon. The 15-year-old was contracted to play for the local club from 1957 to 1960.
While Eusébio was still playing for Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques, he was spotted by two major European clubs, namely Italian club Juventus and Portuguese Benfica. Eusébio was first approached by Juventus but his mother, Elisa Anissabeni, refused to even discuss the matter. When Béla Guttmann, Benfica’s legendary coach, learned that Eusébio was still up for grabs he flew to Lourenço Marques to secure him for Benfica. This time Eusébio’s mother agreed (reportedly a large sum of money was paid to her) to release her son, thereby enabling him to become the footballing world’s newest sensation.
Eusébio’s arrival in Lisbon in December 1960 must be viewed in the historical context of that time. While colonial powers such as Britain, France and Belgium had embarked on a process of decolonisation, Portugal resisted international pressure to relinquish its colonies. The Portuguese argued that their colonies were an integral part of the motherland. At the time of Eusébio’s arrival in Portugal, the country was seemingly firmly in control of its colonies, particularly the capitals Luanda and Lourenço Marques. During the 1960s, Lourenço Marques, or ‘LM’ as it was commonly known, was a bustling port city that attracted scores of white tourists enjoying its pristine beaches, lively nightlife, and famed LM prawns. Eusébio remembered Lourenço Marques as a “city of pleasures and mysteries unknown”.
Because Eusébio was a mestiço (person of mixed race) he rapidly progressed from being an indígena (indigenous person) to being an assimilado (assimilated person). This status was reserved for a small semi-privileged minority of mostly mestiços who were considered sufficiently Portuguese concerning language, culture, and religion. This special status enabled Eusébio to adapt more easily to life in Portugal, even though black players often experienced racism and received lower salaries than their white teammates. In fact, Eusébio managed so well that he became a pioneer in more ways than one. With his exceptional skill he added an exciting new dynamic to Portuguese soccer, and, in the process, he paved the way for other promising African footballers to be contracted by Portuguese clubs in the 1960s. With their innate flair and spontaneous creativity, it was not uncommon for African players to outshine their Portuguese fellow players!
During Eusébio’s 15 years (1960–1975) at Benfica, he served his club exceptionally well. Known for his “powerful shot” and “unbelievable turn of speed”, his supporters dubbed him ‘Black Panther’. During the early 1960s, Eusébio became a scoring machine for Benfica and subsequently also for Portugal’s national team. Benfica won the 1962 European Cup by beating Real Madrid 5-3, thanks to Eusébio scoring the last two goals. Eusébio’s moment of glory came in 1966 with the Soccer World Cup in England. Imagine a soccer player not matching but outshining Brazilian soccer legend Pelé! Eusébio scored no less than nine goals for Portugal in the tournament.
In the semi-final match against England at Wembley Stadium Portugal was trumped by England’s Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton. England narrowly won the game 2-1; an unexpected defeat that brought tears to the eyes of players and fans alike. Who will forget the sight of an emotional Eusébio being escorted off the field after the game? To this day, the game is remembered in Portugal as Jogo das Lágrimas (Game of Tears). Despite Portugal’s defeat, Eusébio was the star of the 1966 World Cup. Being the top scorer of the tournament, Salazar declared Eusébio a ‘national treasure’.
In 1975, the 33-year-old Eusébio ended his career with Benfica. Incidentally, the period 1974–1975 also signified the end of Portugal’s colonial empire. In April 1974, the Portuguese dictatorship was overthrown in a military coup, paving the way for Portugal’s new left-wing government to implement a hasty and chaotic process of withdrawal from Angola and Mozambique. Subsequently, thousands of white Portuguese fled to Portugal and neighbouring South Africa. After more than four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique attained its independence in June 1975, with Frelimo’s Samora Machel as its first president.
While Mozambique started its journey as an independent African state, Eusébio also embarked on a new journey of his own. Like many other ageing football stars before him, he moved to America where he played football for clubs affiliated to the North American Soccer League (NASL), including the Boston Minute Men, Las Vegas Quicksilvers and New Jersey Americans. In 1979, chronic knee problems forced him to end his soccer career but he remained involved in the sport as an advisor for Portugal’s national team.
Eusébio – affectionately called O Rei (The King) – passed away on 5 January 2014 in Lisbon at the age of 71. He left behind his wife Flora Bruheim (a mestiço from Lourenço Marques) and two daughters. Eusébio also left behind an astounding sporting legacy: a whopping 727 goals in 715 appearances during his time at Benfica. In 2015, his remains were moved to the National Pantheon in Lisbon, where only the most important Portuguese citizens, including fado singer Amália Rodrigues, are buried. Eusébio was the first ever soccer player and the first black person to be laid to rest there.
Sources
Basias, D. 2023. Eusébio. FootballHistory.org. https://www.footballhistory.org/player/eusebio.html (accessed 22.8.2023)
Black, J. 2020. A brief history of Portugal. London: Robinson.
Cleveland, T. 2013. Following the ball: African soccer players, labor strategies and emigration across the Portuguese colonial empire, 1949-1975. Cadernos de Estudos Africanos 26, 15-41. https://doi.org/10.4000/cea.1109
Domingos, N. 2019. The death of a football player. Eusébio and the struggle for Portuguese history. Práticas da História 8, 163-197. https://doi.org/10.48487/pdh.2019.n8.22417
Free State Provincial Archives: The Friend Accession (A566): photographs and clippings.
McOwen, G. 2014. Eusébio obituary: graceful footballer with a fearsome right foot and an astonishing goal-scoring record. The Guardian. 5.1.2014. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/05/eusebio
Stroud, J. 2009. History of the FIFA World Cup. Australia: Murray Books.
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