Hilário Rosário da Conceição, OM (born 19 June 1939), known as Hilário (), is a Portuguese former

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 lea ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He spent his entire professional career with

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, appearing in 474 competitive matches (a record that stood for several decades) and winning seven major trophies. An international for 12 years, Hilário represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

at the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

Club career

Born in

Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

, Hilário was first noticed at Sporting de Lourenço Marques, an official branch of

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, as

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 Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

, three years his junior and a childhood friend. He put his youth career on hold for nearly two years and switched to

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, as he often played football barefoot due to the fact he did not feel comfortable wearing

cleats Cleat may refer to: * Cleat (nautical), a fitting on ships, balls, and balls to which ropes are tied * Cleat hitch, a knot * Cleat, Orkney, a List of places in Orkney#C, place in Scotland * Cleat (shoe), a type or part of a shoe * Cleats (comic st ...

. After signing for Sporting in 1958, Hilário was an undisputed starter for 14 of his 15

Primeira Divisão The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga P ...

seasons, winning three national championships and as many

Taça de Portugal The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

. He missed the club's conquest of the

1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1963–64 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisb ...

, due to a serious tibia injury contracted against Vitória de Setúbal just three days before the final against

MTK Budapest FC Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a professional Association football, football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The club currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I. The club's colours are blue ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Following a replay in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, the trophy was taken by the whole team to his house where he was recovering; prior to that second match, he sent a telegram from the hospital to his teammates: "Fight until the end, I have you in my heart." A photo of him with his leg still in a cast and drinking champagne from the trophy became famous. Hilário retired aged 34, and embarked on a managerial career shortly after. This included his only spells in the Portuguese top division, with S.C. Braga in the 1976–77 and the 1979–80 seasons, and assistant stints with Sporting (both first and reserve teams).

Eusébio transfer saga

Following the arrival of Eusébio to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in December 1960, Hilário tried to talk him into joining him at Sporting, as the former was poised to sign for

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

. On behalf of Sporting, Hilário offered him an improved professional contract instead of the initial arrangement of a trial period. Sporting's offer was the double of Benfica's, included the necessary funds to allow

financial compensation Financial compensation refers to the act of providing a person with money or other things of economic value in exchange for their goods, labor, or to provide for the costs of injuries that they have incurred. The aim of financial compensation ...

for the incurred costs, and according to Hilário he was successful in that endeavour. Benfica found this meeting suspicious, and in order to avoid the advances of Sporting towards Eusébio instructed him to be codenamed Ruth Malosso, moved him on 8 April 1961 to a holiday home owned by former chairman Domingos Claudino and a hotel near the Meia Praia beach in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, where he would remain for twelve days until the transfer upheaval subsided, and he finally signed and was registered.

International career

On 11 November 1959, Hilário made his debut for the Portugal national team, in a 5–3 friendly loss to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He went on earn a further 39

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, his last appearance coming on 17 February 1971 in a 3–0 defeat against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1972 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two legs on a home-and-away bas ...

. Hilário was called up for the

by manager

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

, featuring in all the matches for the third-placed side.

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 1961–62, 1965–66, 1969–70 *

: 1962–63, 1970–71,

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1963–64 Portugal *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

third place:

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hilario 1939 births Living people Mozambican emigrants to Portugal 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen Mozambican men's footballers Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Maputo Men's association football defenders CD Maxaquene players Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Portugal men's international footballers 1966 FIFA World Cup players Portuguese football managers Primeira Liga managers S.C. Braga managers C.S. Marítimo managers Leixões S.C. managers S.C. Covilhã managers Académico de Viseu F.C. managers S.C. Lusitânia managers Expatriate football managers in Mozambique Sporting CP non-playing staff