Eusebio was in his youth a sprint champion and a good basketball player, but football was the game he loved. As a young player, he  was the subject of a fierce contract battle between two Portuguese clubs.  He made his debut with Mozambique's Lourenco Marques, a nursery club of Sporting Lisbon, but was "kidnapped" by Benfica on his arrival to Lisbon and hidden away in an Algarve fishing village until the arguments between the clubs died down! Eusebio became a legend in Portugal and was known worldwide as "The Black Panther", or "The Black Pearl". 

Bela Guttmann, Benfica's coach, first heard of Eusebio in a hairdresser's salon in Lisbon.  In the chair next to him was Sao Paolo's coach, who were touring Portugal.  He told Guttmann about a brilliant footballer he had seen in Portuguese East Africa.  Guttmann flew out and within a week and bought Eusebio.

Eusebio was a member of the first side to beat legendary Real Madrid in a European Cup final.  In 1962 Benfica trounced the Spanish giants and 5-times winners of the trophy 5-3 in the final.  Eusebio scored twice.

In 1963, Eusebio was selected for the Rest of the World side to play England at Wembley as part of the F.A.'s Centenary celebrations.

Eusebio made such an impression on the British Public in the 1966 World Cup that his figure was immediately added to Madame Tussaud's waxwork collection. . In the quarter finals Portugal played North Korea, who surprisingly sped into a 3-0 lead. Eusebio though was not ready for an embarrassing defeat and inspired his team to a 5-3 victory with four goals. Portugal lost in the semis to England with Eusebio leaving the field in tears. However he did end up being top scorer in the competition with 9 goals.

In 1968 he made his last appearance in a European Cup Final when Benfica took on Manchester United at Wembley. With the score at 1-1, he had a chance to score a late winner but was denied by a fine reflex save from Alex Stepney. The game went into extra time and United ran out comfortable winners. 

In his 15 years at Benfica there are only two when Eusebio didn't win a major honour - 1966 and 1975 (his last year at the club). From 1964 to 1968, and again in 1973, Eusebio was Portugal's top League scorer.  On the last two occasions he was top scorer in the whole of Europe as well.  His total of 46 goals in European competition is second only to the 49 of Real Madrid's Alfredo Di Stefano.

In 1975 Eusebio crossed the Atlantic to play in America for the last few years of his career. He returned to Benfica as a coach in 1977, but it is as a scorer of spectacular goals that he will best be remembered.

Such goal scoring achievements that 'Roy of the Rovers' would be proud of! We welcome "The Black Pearl" to the Roy of the Rovers Hall of Fame.