When it comes to naming the greatest ever Portuguese footballers, most fans of the beautiful game will have one name springing to the top of their minds no matter their age, but what about the other two winners of the Ballon d’Or?

This is the individual trophy otherwise known as the World Footballer of the Year, which honours the standout player in the world over the calendar year. There have been three different Portuguese winners since its conception in 1956, with Cristiano Ronaldo being attributed the award on an incredible five separate occasions.

PortuGOAL ranks the three winners and undoubtedly the best three players in Portuguese football history. 

Portugal’s national football team announced itself with a bang at the 1966 World Cup as the Seleção played in its first major tournament and the Eusébio-inspired Seleção finished third. It remains the best finish in World Cups in Portugal’s history.

Yet it is from 2000 onwards that the country has truly found its feet as one of the major contenders in each World Cup and European Championship, consistently fielding teams boasting some of the best footballers in the history of the game. It is little surprise, therefore, that three of the top four goal-scorers for the Seleção are from the modern era.

PortuGOAL profiles the top four all-time goal-scorers for Portugal’s national football team. 

Football is the world’s most popular sport, and Portugal is no exception. Its domestic league features fierce rivalries and prestigious clubs that have prospered in European competition, and its national team has increasingly made itself an elite performer on the world stage.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Portugal has produced some of the best players on the planet who play for the leading clubs in Italy, England, and Spain. Add in the fact that Jorge Mendes is the most powerful agent in the world and most of his clients are, like him, Portuguese, and the ingredients are in place for some of the biggest (and in some cases most controversial) transfers of footballers over recent years.

PortuGOAL focuses on three astronomical transfers of Portuguese players that made headlines all over the world. 

“It’s a team that would beat any other, even the great Brazil team of 1982!”

That was the conclusion arrived at by one of Portugal’s foremost football journalists Rui Malheiro and his colleague and host of the excellent anatomiadabola podcast, Rui Silva, after selecting a Portugal team made up of the best Luso players from the last 30 years. 

The two Rui’s selected two options in each position in a 4-3-3 of the finest players to don the Seleção shirt since 1990, as well as the starting XI.