Os Magriços, the skinny “Twelve of England”

The Magriços was the nickname given to the Portugal national football team which finished third at the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The nickname is derived from a 15th-century Portuguese chivalric legend – The Twelve of England (Portuguese: Os Doze de Inglaterra). It was made famous by the poet Luís de Camões in his 1572 Os Lusíadas. It tells the story of twelve Portuguese knights who travelled to England at the request of twelve English women to avenge their insult by a group of English knights. One of these Portuguese knights, Álvaro Gonçalves Coutinho, was nicknamed O Magriço. (From Wikipedia, as accessed May 24, 2024)

Among the most iconic football players of this historic national team stands Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, the legendary Benfica player from Mozambique. Eusébio was a key figure in the Magriços of 1966, helping the team achieve a remarkable feat in world football. Eusébio was not only one of the greatest players of the era but also left a lasting legacy in Portuguese sport.

In the Portuguese-English Dictionary of Porto Editora’s 2008 third edition ‘magriço’ is equivalent to ‘magricela’ meaning ‘scrag, skinny person’.

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira was one of the 1966 national football team’s ‘magriços’ and his remains rest nowadays in the Portuguese national pantheon, additionally, in tribute to Eusébio a statue of him has been erected by the Benfica club stadium in Lisbon several years ago.