LISBON, Portugal — The remains of Portuguese soccer great Eusebio have a new home: the country’s National Pantheon.
Eusebio’s coffin was taken from a Lisbon cemetery to the 17th-century church where the remains of outstanding figures from Portuguese history are kept.
A horse-drawn carriage with a cavalry escort took the coffin, draped with the Portuguese flag, on a two-hour cortege around the Portuguese capital. It was then carried into the large, white stone-clad building for a formal ceremony attended by the country’s president and prime minister late Friday.
Parliament’s approval was required before Eusebio, who died in January 2014 and was popularly known as "O Rei" (The King), could be moved to the pantheon.
He is the first footballer to be placed there, sharing a room with 20th-century poet Sophia de Mello Breyner.