Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo de Vasconcelos (10 March 1918 – 28 November 1978) was a Portuguese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker. He spent his entire professional career with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

, scoring 544 goals in all competitions, winning 11 major titles and being crowned his country's top-division scorer on six occasions.

Club career

Born in

Humpata Humpata is a town and municipality in the province of Huíla, Angola. The municipality had a population of 89,144 in 2014. Humpata was the primary destination of the Trekboers on the Dorsland Trek in the 1870s. These Afrikaners formed the majo ...

Huíla Province Huíla is a province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 2,497,422 (2014 census). Lubango is the capital of the province. Basket-making is a significant industry in the province; many make baskets out of reeds. History From the Por ...

Portuguese Angola Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa (officially the State of West Africa). I ...

, Peyroteo arrived at

on 26 June 1937 after being introduced to the club by family friend Aníbal Paciência, and he quickly impressed new manager

József Szabó József Szabó (born 10 March 1969) is a retired Hungarian swimmer. He competed in three individual events at the 1988 Olympics and won a gold medal in the 200 m breaststroke; he placed fourth in the 400 m and 24th in the 200 m medley eve ...

by scoring a hat-trick in a practice match. His competitive debut came on 12 September, and he netted a brace against rivals

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. He went on to be part of the club's attacking line that included Albano,

Jesus Correia António Jesus Correia, ComIH (3 April 1924 – 30 November 2003) was a Portuguese football and roller hockey (quad) player, competing as a forward in the former sport and amassing Primeira Liga totals of 159 games and 128 goals over the cour ...

José Travassos José António Barreto Travassos (22 February 1926 – 12 February 2002) was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Club career Born in Lisbon, Travassos joined Sporting CP in 1946 ...

and

Manuel Vasques Manuel Soeiro Vasques (29 July 1926 – 10 July 2003) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a forward. Club career Born in Barreiro, Setúbal District, Vasques joined Sporting CP in 1946, from local club G.D. CUF. During his spell in Lis ...

and was dubbed the ''Cinco Violinos'' (Five

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s), scoring 57 goals in only 30 games in his first year to win both the Lisbon Championship and the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

, then named Portuguese Championship. During his spell with the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

side, Peyroteo won five

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

trophies, five domestic cups and the first edition of the

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

at the new ''

Estádio Nacional The Estádio Nacional (English: National Stadium), also known as National Stadium Sports Complex ( pt, Complexo Desportivo do Estádio Nacional) and as ''Jamor Sports Complex'' ( pt, Complexo Desportivo do Jamor), is a national football stadium ...

'', scoring twice in the latter tournament for an eventual 3–2

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

win over Benfica. He managed nine in a single game against

Leça F.C. Leça Futebol Clube, better known as Leça FC or simply Leça, is a Portuguese football club located in the town of Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos. Founded in 1912, it had a spell in the top-flight Primeira Liga between 1995 and 1998, when it w ...

and eight against

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

, and his goals-per-game ratio was the best in Portuguese football, at 1.68 successful strikes per game. Peyroteo contributed 40 goals in the 1948–49 campaign as the ''Lions'' conquered their third league in a row. He retired shortly after at the age of 31, with the revenue from the

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

being used to pay debts he had collected with a sportswear shop he had opened. Peyroteo subsequently moved back to Angola, but returned eventually to Portugal to coach the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

: after his second game, a 4–2 loss at minnows

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

for the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

qualifiers which brought young

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

, he was relieved of his duties, and quit football altogether. After a veterans match in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, he was forced to undergo surgery that brought complications later, leading to the amputation of one leg; he died in the Portuguese capital, at the age of 60.

International career

Peyroteo played 20 times for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

over nearly 11 years, scoring 14 goals. He made his debut on 24 April 1938 in an

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Personal life

José Couceiro José Júlio de Carvalho Peyroteo Martins Couceiro (born 4 October 1962) is a Portuguese football manager, currently the national technical director of the Portuguese Football Federation. Managerial career As a manager, Couceiro's career is marke ...

, a football player and later a manager, was Peyroteo's grandnephew. António César de Vasconcelos Correia, 1st

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

and 1st

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Torres Novas Torres Novas () is a Portuguese municipality in the district of Santarém, in the Médio Tejo of the Centro region. The population of the municipality was approximately 36,717 (from the 2011 census), with the city of Torres Novas (seat of the mu ...

and the 93rd Governor of

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

, was his great-uncle;

Augusto de Vasconcelos Augusto César de Almeida de Vasconcelos Correia, Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCSE (24 September 1867 – 27 September 1951), better known as Augusto de Vasconcelos () was a Portuguese people, Portuguese surgeon, politician and diplomat, ...

was his second cousin once removed. Peyroteo's paternal grandfather was Spanish.