5 Greatest Portuguese footballers of all time

Portugal is one of the strongest footballing nations of Europe. Their domestic football league is not as competitive or lucrative as that of their Iberian neighbors Spain, but it boasts of successful clubs like Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto. Benfica and Porto have actually won the European Cup/Champions League too

Moreover, the Portuguese national team has also won the European Championships once and finished runners-up on one occasion. They also reached the semifinal of the 1966 and 2006 World Cups. Their attractive playing style has its admirers all over the world.

They have also produced a lot of quality players throughout the decades. On that note, we would now take a look at the top 5 Portuguese footballers of all time.

#5 Ricardo Carvalho

Carvalho is quite possibly the greatest Portuguese defender of all time. He is not very tall, but made up for his lack of height with great anticipation and positional play. He was also quite good in the air and remained very reliable while defending set-pieces.

Carvalho rose to prominence while playing for FC Porto, as they won the Champions League in the 2003-04 season. Jose Mourinho, the then-Porto coach, was appointed as the manager of Chelsea, and he signed Carvalho for the London-based club. Carvalho joined Chelsea in 2004 and played for them till 2010.

He won two consecutive Premier League titles with Chelsea in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. He won another Premier League with them in 2009-10. The 40-year-old was one of the best center backs in the Premier League in the late 2000s and early 2010s and scored 11 goals in 210 matches for Chelsea.

Carvalho then joined Real Madrid in 2010 and spent three seasons with Los Blancos. He also won the La Liga title for them in 2011-12. Carvalho played in 77 matches for Real and scored three goals as well. He then joined Monaco in 2013 and played for three more seasons for them. He also scored a couple of goals in 118 matches.

He was also quite successful for his national team and earned 89 international caps from 2003 to 2016. He also scored international goals. He was a part of the Portuguese team that reached the final of the Euro 2004 and the semifinal of the World Cup 2006. He retired after winning the Euros with Portugal in 2016.

#4 Rui Costa

Rui Costa was one of the most elegant midfielders of his generation and had legendary status in two of the Italian clubs - Fiorentina and AC Milan. He started his career with Benfica and joined Fiorentina in 1994. He played for a very strong Fiorentina team that also possessed the likes of Gabriel Batistuta and Luca Toni and won over their supporters with his sublime touches and incisive passing.

Costa had great ball-skills and was also very easy on the eye. He could play great through-balls to the forwards and scored some great goals with shots from outside the oppositions penalty box. He was one of the premier playmakers in the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was also quite adept at taking free-kicks and scored 50 goals from 279 matches for Fiorentina.

He joined AC Milan in 2001 and went on to spend 5 seasons with them. He won 1 Serie A and 1 UEFA Champions League title with Milan and was part of a great team there along with the likes of Andriy Shevchenko, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Paolo Maldini, and Alessandro Nesta. He scored 11 goals in 192 matches for Milan and left the club in 2006. He rejoined Benfica and retired with 9 goals in 75 matches for them in 2008.

He was also part of Portugal’s golden generation and played prominent roles in their exploits in the Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006. He scored 26 goals in 94 international appearances for Portugal.

#3. Luis Figo:

The greatest player to have emerged from the Golden generation of Portuguese football, Luis Figo is also one of the few players who has performed equally well for both the Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. Figo also started his career with Sporting and joined Barca in 1995.

He became a part of the Barca team which was going through a rebuilding phase and combined with the likes of Rivaldo and Jari Litmanen to make Barca a formidable team. Figo primarily played as the right-winger, and dazzled the world with his quick dribbling and probing runs through the right flank. He could also deliver good crosses and had great vision too.

Figo scored 45 goals for Barca in 248 matches, and also won 2 La Liga titles with them. He also won the Ballon d’Or in 2000. However, his much-disputed transfer to arch-rivals Real Madrid was very acrimonious, and he had to face a hostile reception from the Barca fans when Real visited the Camp Nou in the 2000-01 season. However, he won 2 La Liga titles and 1 UEFA Champions League title with Real in his 5 seasons with them.

Figo was part of one of the greatest club teams ever assembled in the history of football, which also consisted of the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo, Fernando Hierro and Claude Makelele. He scored 56 goals from 245 matches for Real Madrid.

He joined Inter from Real in 2005 and played there till 2009. He also scored 11 goals in 141 matches for them. Figo was also quite successful for the Portuguese national team and scored 32 goals in 127 matches for them. He also captained Portugal for a considerable period of time.

#2. Cristiano Ronaldo:

Cristiano Ronaldo has to be one of the best footballers of all time, and also happens to be one of the best born in Portugal. Sir Alex Ferguson signed him as a precocious teenager from Sporting Lisbon, and he dazzled the world with his sublime skills and extraordinary performances in the six seasons he spent at Manchester United.

He started his career as a winger, but gradually developed into a great center-forward and a goal-scoring machine. He scored 118 goals in 292 matches for United and won 3 Premier League's and 1 Champions League title with them. Ronaldo formed a superb attack at United along with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, as they continued to dominate English football.

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009 and reached even greater heights while playing for them. He scored an incredible 450 goals in 438 matches for Real in his 9 seasons with them, and also won 5 Champions League, 2 LaLiga and 5 Ballon d’Ors. He also formed a great rivalry with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, as those two shared the Ballon d’Or between themselves for a decade.

Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018 and is quite likely to win his maiden Serie A title with them. He has also earned 154 caps for his national side, the highest by any Portuguese footballer. Ronaldo has also scored 85 goals for his national team and won the Euro 2016 title with them.

Ronaldo is blessed with all the qualities an attacking player should have. He has electrifying pace, can shoot with both his feet, is a great dribbler and has a good header. He has regularly beaten the best defences in the world with ease and reached the zenith of world football.

#1. Eusebio:

Eusebio was the greatest footballer Portugal has ever produced. He was a big and strong centre-forward and blessed with all the qualities a great forward should have. He had powerful shots, great finishing skills, and opportunism, and was technically very sound. He made Portugal one of the strongest footballing nations in the 1960s and remains one of the finest European footballers of all time.

Eusebio also was the greatest ever footballer to play for Benfica and contributed immensely towards their European Cup triumph in 1962. He also won 11 Portuguese first division titles with Benfica and scored a whopping 473 goals in 440 matches for them. He also won the Ballon d’Or in 1965.

Eusebio’s finest hour as a footballer came in the 1966 World Cup when he inspired Portugal to a last 4 finish. Portugal lost to eventual winners England 1-2 in the semi-final, but Eusebio won the Golden Boot by scoring 9 goals, including 4 against North Korea in a thrilling match, which saw Portugal come back from a 0-3 deficit to win 5-3.

Eusebio scored 41 goals in 64 matches for the Portuguese national team from 1961 to 1973. He died in 2014, and still remains an inspiration to many Portuguese footballers. He was also selected among the top 10 footballers of all time in the IFFHS’ world players of the century.

Edited by Zaid Khan