Football's Pioneers: Matateu

Sebastião Lucas de Fonseca, known as ‘Matateu’, was one of the first black players to achieve success in European football and an inspiration for later African Portuguese stars such as the great Eusébio.

Born in a working-class district of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Mozambique in 1927, Matateu made his name at a number of local clubs.

In 1950, he scored for a Lourenço Marques representative side against Benfica and, the following year, was signed by rival Lisbon club Belenenses.  

He achieved immediate success at Belenenses, scoring twice in his league debut. Over the next 10 years he became one of the league’s top marksmen, regularly averaging over 20 goals a season.

He scored 29 and 32 goals respectively in 1952/53 and 1954/55 to take the ‘Silver Ball’ for leading goalscorer, and helped Belenenses to a 2-1 cup final victory over Sporting in 1960.

Belenenses were also Primeira Liga runners-up to Benfica in 1954/55.

Matateu made his debut for Portugal in November 1952 in a friendly against Austria. He was selected 27 times for the national team over the next eight years, netting 13 goals. 

After a 3-1 victory over England in Porto in 1955, in which he scored, a British newspaper dubbed Matateu ‘the eighth wonder of the world’.

He could shoot powerfully with both feet and was considered an expert dribbler over short distances.

During the height of his fame, Matateu was Portugal’s best-known player and a sporting idol.

‘Even a child knows who Matateu is’, one Lisbon journal claimed, ‘elderly people, who never concerned themselves with football, now go to see Matateu’.

After leaving Belenenses in 1964, Matateu spent a number of seasons in Portugal’s lower divisions.

By the time he moved to Canada’s National Soccer League in 1970, he was in his forties. He died in Canada in 2000.

Matateu is still remembered as a pioneer for African footballers in Portugal. By the early 1960s, there were over 30 Africans playing in the Portuguese league.

Many, including his brother Vicente, were selected for the national side, helping to establish Portugal as a leading nation in global football.

For several seasons, Leicester City Football Club has worked with De Montfort University’s International Centre for Sports History & Culture on various heritage projects. This season, staff and students at the Centre will feature those players who were pioneers that contributed to the growth and development of the game.

For more information about sports history at DMU please click HERE.