On the 10th of March 1918, a Sunday packed with football matches, one of the most extraordinary strikers in the history of football was born in Angola. His name: Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo.
It didn’t take long for Peyroteo to write his name as one of Sporting Clube de Portugal’s golden boys. In 1937, on his rst game wearing the green and white shirt, Peyroteo scored twice in a 5-3 win in a friendly match against Ben ca. So began a story of goals, goals... and more goals.
Fernando Peyroteo, known as “The Tank”, was a true goal machine, holding a series of practically unbreakable records. To give you an idea: in just 3 consecutive national championship matches, he scored a total of 16 goals setting a European record that still stands. However, this is not his only record! On the podium for most goals scored in a single match for European top leagues, Fernando Peyroteo occupies not only the rst place with 9 goals but also the second place with 8 goals. Impressive! On top of that, to this day, Peyroteo still holds the world record for goals scored per game, in national championship matches, having scored 309 goals in just 189 games. An incredible average of 1.6 goals per game, recognized by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics that will be di cult to beat.
2018 marks the centenary of this unparalleled and unmistakable gure of world football, whose name Sporting Clube de Portugal will never let be forgotten. Goals were the hallmark of Fernando Peyroteo’s entire career, making him Portugal’s all-time greatest striker, with a total of 540 goals in 332 o cial matches. A true goal machine!
But it wasn’t just on Sporting Clube de Portugal that he left his mark. Peyroteo also wrote history with the Portuguese Football Federation. In 20 games for the Portuguese National Team, he scored 13 goals, becoming captain and later national team head coach. He truly was a rare example of service to his country.
He nally hung up his boots at the age of just 31. It was an ending that came too soon, but Fernando Peyroteo, who earned headlines in newspapers around the world, who inspired commentators in hundreds and hundreds of games, who was worshipped by both Portuguese and foreign radio stations, will forever live on as a shining star that blessed the history of world football. He died at the age of 60, on the 28th of November 1978.
Sporting Clube de Portugal
