Matateu

Matateu

Personal information
Full name	Sebastião Lucas da Fonseca
Date of birth	(1927-07-26)26 July 1927
Place of birth	Lourenço Marques, Mozambique
Date of death
Place of death	British Columbia, Canada
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1951–1964	Belenenses	268	(209)
1964–1967	Atlético	21	(9)
1967–1968	Gouveia
1968–1969	Amora
1969–1970	Chaves
1970–1971	First Portuguese
1972–1974	Sagres Victoria
International career
1952–1960	Portugal	27	(13)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sebastião Lucas da Fonseca (26 July 1927 – 27 January 2000), known as Matateu (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐtɐˈtew]), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker.

His professional career, which spanned more than 30 years, was closely associated to Belenenses. He won the Bola de Prata twice during his spell with the club, and scored 218 goals in 289 Primeira Liga games, being dubbed the World's Eighth Wonder.

Matateu's was Belenenses most-capped ever player for the Portuguese national team.

Club career

Born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, Matateu started his career playing for local teams João Albasini, 1º de Maio and Manjacaze. He signed with C.F. Os Belenenses in Portugal in 1951, scoring top division 17 goals in 26 games in his first season as the Lisbon club finished in fourth position, and adding 29 in the same number of matches in the following campaign – third place.

From 1953 to 1960, Matateu continued scoring in double digits (a minimum of 14 goals), netting a career-best 32 in 1954–55 for his team's final runner-up position (and his second Silver Ball award). In 1960 he helped his main club win the Portuguese Cup, against Sporting Clube de Portugal (2–1); he left the club in the 1964 summer at the age of 37, after only appearing in four games in his last two seasons combined due to a serious leg injury from which he never fully recovered.

Matateu then joined neighbouring Atlético Clube de Portugal in the second level, helping to promotion in his second year. In the 1966–67 season – his final in the Portuguese top flight – the 39-year-old contributed with nine goals in 21 games, but the team suffered relegation after ranking second from bottom (13th position); in the following three years, he played with Clube Desportivo de Gouveia in division two and amateur football with Amora F.C. and G.D. Chaves.

Matateu retired from professional football well past his 40's, after spending several years in Canada.

International career

Matateu gained 27 caps for Portugal, and scored 13 goals. After making his debut on 23 November 1952 in a friendly with Austria in Porto, his last game was against Yugoslavia on 22 May 1960, for the 1960 European Nations' Cup (1–5 away loss, he netted in the first leg, a 2–1 win).

Matateu never played internationally with his countryman Eusébio, as the S.L. Benfica legend only made his first appearance for the national team one year after his retirement.

Personal life / Death

Matateu's younger brother, Vicente, was also a footballer. A defender, he played 13 years with Belenenses (sharing teams with his sibling during ten), and also represented the Portuguese national team.

He died on 27 January 2000 at the age of 72, in the Victoria General Hospital in British Columbia, after a long battle with illness.

External links

• Matateu at footballzz.co.uk
• Matateu profile at ForaDeJogo
• Matateu at National-Football-Teams.com
• Matateu – FIFA competition record
• Portugal stats at Eu-Football
• Belenenses biography (Portuguese)
• Amora biography (Portuguese)