Former Portugal striker Eusebio has died at the age of 71, his former club Benfica have confirmed.
Nicknamed the Black Panther, Eusebio was regarded as one of the best players of all time and helped Portugal to third place at the 1966 World Cup, finishing as top scorer in the tournament with nine goals.
The Mozambique-born striker made his name at club level with Benfica, winning 11 league titles during a 15-year spell there and two Golden Boot awards as Europe’s leading goalscorer.
He also notched 41 goals in 64 inter-national appearances for Portugal.
A Benfica spokesman said: “We have just received confirmation of the death of Eusebio it’s a very sad day for all of us.”
The club were unable to confirm details of the player’s passing, but reports in Portugal say he died of a heart attack in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Benfica fans were offered the chance to pay their final respects to the player at the Estadio da Luz on Sunday.
“Eusebio’s body will be brought to the stadium later today and all fans will be able to say goodbye,” the spokesman said.
One of Portugal’s top footballers of recent times, Luis Figo hailed Eusebio on Twitter. “The king! Great loss for all of us! The greatest!,” he wrote.
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke told BBC News: “He was clearly a world-class footballer who scored an awful lot of goals. He had a level of natural talent that most players don’t have.”
Eusebio had been in poor health for some time and was taken to hospital during Euro 2012 after a heart scare in Poland.
He was a torment to defenders in his time because of his speed and technique, and scored an astonishing 317 goals in 301 appearances for Benfica, where he was a player between 1960 and 1975.
He spent the twilight of his career in North America with spells at Boston Minutemen, Toronto Metros-Croatia, the Las Vegas Quicksilvers and New Jersey Americans until a series of knee injuries forced his retirement at the age of 37.
But it was his achievements with Benfica which made him a global star, with five national cups and a European Cup on top of his list of league titles.