Get to know all the Portuguese football legends

Do you know who the Portuguese football legends are? Discover the list of players who have raised national football to the highest level.

From the first kicks at the football ball in Largo da Achada, Camacha parish, Madeira Island, in 1875 to the most recent qualification of the Portuguese national team for the Qatar World Cup, 147 years have passed, a period in which some of the most beautiful pages of national football have been written by the feet of millions of Portuguese players.

From the "goal machine" Peyroteo, to "Zé da Europa" Travassos (the first Portuguese player to be selected for a European team), Matateu, Coluna, Simões, Torres, Jordão, "Bi-bota" Fernando Gomes (twice winner of the UEFA Golden Boot), Rui Costa or Vítor Baia, there have been many players from Portugal who have contributed to Portuguese football being one of the best known and most celebrated in the world today.

Emphasising that any list of Portuguese football legends will always be unfair because, fortunately, Portugal has produced some of the greatest performers the game has ever known, we're going to introduce you to five names who have helped cement our country's position in the Olympus of world football. Come along!

5 Portuguese Football Legends

- Eusébio (64 international caps, 41 goals)

It's hard to find more words to describe how much the "Black Panther" gave to Portuguese football. Responsible for lifting the name of "Portugal" to the top tier of world football, Eusébio won 11 national championships, 5 Portuguese Cups, 1 European Winners' Cup, 7 Silver Balls for top scorer in the national championship and was the first Portuguese player to win the Ballon d'Or for best player in the world in 1968, a feat he repeated in 1973.

If his rich trophy cabinet, which also includes the record for goals for the national team that would only be beaten by Ronaldo in 2013, was enough to make Eusébio one of Portugal's legends, it would be his fantastic performance for the "Magriços" at the 1966 World Cup in England that would make him one of the "immortals" of the beautiful game.

- Chalana (27 international caps, 2 goals)

Despite his 27 international caps and two goals for the Portuguese national team, it is Chalana, the "little genius", to whom Portuguese football owes some of its most glorious pages in the 80s. It was his move that led to the penalty, converted by Jordão, against the USSR that qualified us for the 1984 European Championship in France and some of the most brilliant moves that the European Championship saw that helped us reach the semi-finals.

As a curiosity, his brilliant displays in France led Bordeaux to sign him for a large sum, which would eventually help SL Benfica complete the emblematic third ring of the Estádio da Luz.

- Futre (41 international caps, 6 goals)

If the genius of Chalana's left foot was enough to make opponents miserable, two great left feet could do much more. Holder of the record for the youngest player ever to wear the "Quinas" kit (17 years and 204 days old), Futre had the rare ability to become unanimous among the fans of all the teams he played for until his injuries brought about the end of his career.

A legend at Sporting CP where he began his career, a legend at FC Porto where he won a European Cup (1987) and a legend, hero and all the epithets possible and imaginary at Atlético de Madrid (the biggest transfer in Portuguese football up to that point) where his blazing runs are still remembered with nostalgia among the "colchoneros" fans.

Left out of the squad for Euro 84, Futre would nevertheless end up at the World Cup 86 in Mexico, having played a part in Portugal's 3-1 defeat against Morocco that sealed the team's elimination from the championship.

- Figo (127 international caps, 32 goals)

From Chewing Gum to the World. That's how you could start a biography of the leading figure of the so-called "Golden Generation", Luís Figo.

Raised at Sporting CP and made a member of the national team in 1991 in a friendly match against Luxembourg, Luís Figo had a career full of honours, including the Under-20 World Cup won in the cauldron of Luz against Brazil, the 2001-2002 Champions League and Intercontinental Cup (2002) with Real Madrid and the 1995-1996 Cup Winners' Cup with Barcelona.

In the national team, the great displays that helped Portugal not only to appear in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championships and the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, but also to reach the advanced stages of these competitions, will live long in the memory. He will always be remembered for the "bomb from the middle of the road" that started the turnaround in the group stage of the 2000 European Championship against England, which left goalkeeper Seamens and the world open-mouthed.

FIFA World Player of the Year in 2001 and winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2000, Luís Figo is, in his own right, one of the players who has done the most to make Portuguese football one of the most respected in the world today.

- Cristiano Ronaldo (205 international caps, 123 goals)

If Eusébio led us to the dream of seeing our national team win its first international trophy, a young and humble dreamer born to football in the Madeiran Clube Futebol Andorinha de Santo António called Cristiano Ronaldo would lead us to shout "Champions! We Are Champions!" after winning the European Championship in 2016 and the first edition of the Nations League in 2019.

Portugal's most capped player of all time and the world's top scorer with 123 goals, Ronaldo has also won 5 Ballon d'Ors, 5 Champions Leagues and 3 Club World Cups, as well as countless other individual and collective trophies, and his hunger to win seems to have no end. How far can Ronaldo go?

There have been many Portuguese players who have demonstrated high quality and who have helped Portugal elevate national football to the highest level. These are just five of many names that are equally important to the history of Portuguese football, as Portugal has produced top quality players throughout its history.