Portugal soccer team

The Portugal National Soccer Team (in Portuguese, Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol), is the team that represents Portugal in soccer. It is directed by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), which is affiliated with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Federation of Associated Football (FIFA), so the team participates in the competitions that these entities organize.

Portugal's home matches are played in various stadiums across the country, with its main training ground and technical headquarters, Cidade do Futebol, located in Oeiras.

Portugal's first appearance in a major tournament finals was at the 1966 World Cup, in which a team featuring Ballon d'Or winner Eusébio finished in third place. The next two occasions Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, finishing in the first round on both occasions. Portugal also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984 finals, losing 3-2 after extra time to hosts and eventual winners France.

Under the first golden generation of the team in the 1990s, Portugal began to be a constant presence in all the final stages of major tournaments, reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the final of Euro 2004 after losing to Greece at home and the 2006 World Cup semi-finals, finishing in fourth place, the country's best World Cup finish since 1966. This was largely due to the production of several players, such as Luís Figo, Rui Costa, Ricardo Carvalho and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2014, Fernando Santos is appointed as the new manager. Two years later, at Euro 2016, Santos gave Portugal its first major trophy, defeating hosts France. With the victory, Portugal qualified and made their only appearance at the FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia, where they finished in third place.

On July 10, 2016, it achieves the greatest success in its history by winning Euro 2016, held in France after beating the host team 1-0 in the final after extra time.

On June 9, 2019, they were crowned champions of the first edition of the League of Nations 2018-19 and thus obtained the second title in their history by defeating the Netherlands team by a score of 1-0. Portugal thus became the first team to achieve the European double Euro (2016) and League of Nations (2018-2019).

Portugal is known colloquially as the Seleção das Quinas (a synecdoche based on the country's heraldic shield) and has notable rivalries with Brazil, due to shared cultural traits and heritage, with France, due to several important encounters between the two teams as in the Eurocup and World Cup, and with Spain, known as A Guerra Ibérica in Portuguese or The Iberian War in English, with the rivalry between two countries dates back to 1581.

In the FIFA ranking, in force since August 1993, the best position Portugal occupies is the 3.^er place, reached for the first time in May 2010, while the worst position it is the 43rd place, occupied in August 1998. It currently occupies the 6th place in the ranking.

History

The FPF was not founded in 1914 and joined years before, in 1921, it played its first international match in Madrid, Spain, on December 18, when it lost to the locals 3-1. The worst result in history He suffered it in 1947, when England beat him 10-0. But in 1994 he got his best victory and it was 8-0 against Liechtenstein. Over the years, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro has worn the Portugal shirt the most times with 182 matches and is also the all-time goalscorer for the Portuguese team with 115 goals from him.

In the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the Lusitanos were absent, as were a large number of European countries, given the high cost of traveling to the South American country. But then he spent many years trying to get to the competition, but his rankings were not the best. For Italy 1934, France 1938, Brazil 1950, Switzerland 1954, Sweden 1958 and Chile 1962, he failed to get a ticket for the World Cup and his participation was long overdue.

He recently said that he was present at the 1966 World Cup in England, where he got the best place in his history: third place. In addition, he had Eusébio da Silva Ferreira as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals. He joined group C, where he finished in first place, and together with Hungary he reached the quarterfinals. There they beat North Korea with a trident of goals from Eusebio, known as the Pearl of Mozambique (since he was born in that African country) and in the semifinals the dream ended, when they lost to the hosts England 2-1. it came by beating the Soviet Union by the same score in the game for third place.

Then he spent many more years without visiting a World Cup event. For Mexico 1970, Germany 1974, Argentina 1978 and Spain 1982, the Portuguese national team did not agree after qualifying rounds with very poor results. His second participation in a World Cup was in Mexico 1986, where he was part of group F, in which he failed to pass the first phase, since Morocco, England and Poland reached the next stage. Later, Italy 90, United States 94 and France 98 were played without the participation of the Portuguese team.

His third World Cup foray was in the one held in 2002 jointly in the Asian countries of South Korea and Japan. He came to it with a generation of impressive players, the so-called golden generation, commanded by the brilliant Luís Figo and made up of Fernando Couto, Rui Costa, Pauleta, Nuno Gomes and João Pinto, among the most representative. He was part of the accessible group D along with South Korea, the United States and Poland, but the results were not the best and only the Asians and North Americans reached the round of 16, leaving both Europeans out of competition.

With several survivors of the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup, such as Figo and Pauleta, and other new talents such as Deco and the talented and brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo, the Lusitanian team qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. matches against Mexico, Angola and Iran in group D and went to the round of 16, where they faced and eliminated the Netherlands by the minimum. In said game a record was registered: four red cards and sixteen yellow cards were shown. During the quarterfinals they left England behind 3-1 from penalty kicks, but in the semifinals they fell to Zinedine Zidane's France 1-0.

After being second in group 1 of the European qualifiers behind Denmark and winning the play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina, they reached South Africa 2010, this being their fifth World Cup in history. There the draw of December 2009, placed it as second in group G, along with Brazil, the Ivory Coast and North Korea. On June 15, he opened his game against the Africans at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in the city of Port Elizabeth. Six days later, they faced the Asians at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, and closed their participation on June 25, when they played Brazil at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in the city of Durban. It was classified as second in group G, where it was eliminated by Spain, with a narrow result of 1-0.

They played in the European Championship, where they qualified second in their group behind Germany. In the round of 16, they beat the Czech Republic 1-0, but once again they were eliminated in the semifinals by Spain on penalties.

In 2013, they managed to finish second in their group behind Russia, qualifying for a play-off against Sweden to qualify for Brazil 2014, in that match they won 1-0 at home and beat 3-2 as visitors, being typecast together with Germany, Ghana and the United States in Brazil 2014.

Their debut in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was not the best, losing 4-0 against Germany. In their second game they had to win so as not to complicate the classification, but they would draw 2-2 with the United States. On the last date, Portugal beat Ghana 2-1, but failed to qualify, being eliminated in the first round.

On March 31, 2015, Portugal suffered one of its most humiliating defeats, losing 2-0 to Cape Verde.

In Euro 2016, the Portuguese team was placed in group F along with Austria, Hungary and Iceland, where they would finish third, but qualifying after drawing 1-1 with the Scandinavians, 0-0 against the Austrians and also drawing against Hungary for 3-3. In the round of 16, they would defeat Croatia 1-0 after extra time. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Poland 5-3 on penalties, after drawing 1-1 in 120 minutes. In the semifinals they beat Wales 2-0, qualifying for the second time in a final. In the final, Portugal is crowned champion defeating France 1-0, this being the first Euro Cup and the first overall title that it has won in its history. The captain and person in charge of lifting the trophy, Cristiano Ronaldo, was also awarded the Silver Boot of the tournament. Thanks to obtaining the gimp, the Portugal team qualified for the 2017 Confederations Cup.

In the 2017 Confederations Cup, they led their group, drawing 2-2 with Mexico on the first date, then they would beat the local Russians 1-0, ending up beating the New Zealand National Team 4-0. In the semifinals they would tie without goals against Chile in one hundred and twenty minutes. In the penalty shootout, Chile would win 3-0, converting all their penalties, while Portugal would miss all their shots, being covered by Claudio Bravo, ultimately the figure of the match.

In 2018, they managed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, making their debut against their classic rival Spain. A vibrant round-trip match, where the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 4th minute (penalty), Diego Costa equalized in the 24th minute, CR7 scored again in the 44th minute, and the Iberian team prevailed again through Diego Costa (min. 55) and Fernández Iglesias (min. 58), and when everything seemed resolved, Ronaldo "invented" a free kick at the gates of the Spanish area, executing an exquisite free kick that tied the game in the 88th minute. Thus, he became the first player in history to score in eight consecutive major tournaments, and the fourth to score in four different World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018) after the cases of Pelé, Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose. Subsequent results against Morocco (1-0 goal from CR7) and against Iran (1-1, goals by Ricardo Quaresma in the 45th minute and Karim Ansarifard in the 93rd minute, from a penalty, confirmed by VAR) ended up giving the selected team luso the pass to eighths. On June 30, 2018, she was eliminated from the World Cup in Russia at the hands of the Uruguayan team. The Portuguese team managed to discount the score with a goal from Pepe, before losing by a score of 2 to 1. It was the eighteenth team to be eliminated from the World Cup.

After the World Cup, Portugal was part of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, where it was placed in League A and drawn in Group 3 with Italy and Poland. On March 9, 2018, UEFA announced that Portugal had expressed interest in participating in the final phase of the Nations League, which was later announced that the group winners would be designated as hosts. Portugal started the league by defeating Italy in a 1–0 home win, with André Silva scoring the only goal of the game. In their second match, Portugal defeated Poland in a 3-2 away win. In the remaining two matches, Portugal faced Italy and Poland in a 0-0 draw away and Poland 1-1 at home, respectively, to advance to the Nations League finals, thus automatically gaining hosting rights., which were confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee on December 3, 2018. In the semi-finals on June 5, 2019, Cristiano Ronaldo made his return to the team scoring a hat-trick against Switzerland to secure the hosts a place in the final. Four days later, in the final at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1-0, with Gonçalo Guedes' only goal coming in the 60th minute winning the first Nations League.

In the 2022 World Cup, Portugal began by defeating Ghana 3-2 in their first group match and then beat Uruguay 2-0 to qualify for the round of 16 before losing 2-1 to South Korea in the last group stage match. The team put in one of the best performances of the tournament in the round of 16 against Switzerland, demolishing their opponent 6-1, but shockingly lost to Morocco 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Uniform and shield

The Cross of the Order of Christ, emblem of the country, is used under the Portuguese blazon as the shield of the selection of Portugal.

First equipment

(See evolution)

Current balance

Locality

The Portugal team does not have a fixed stadium to play their matches in their country. These are the stadiums where he normally plays these matches as a local team:

• National site of Jamor
• Stadium of Light
• Stadium do Dragão
• Esdio José Alvalade
• Stage Dr. Malgalhães Pessoa
• Stadium of Algarve
• Municipal Stadium of Braga
• Stadium D. Afonso Henriques
• Stadium of Restelo
• Municipal Stadium of Aveiro

Rivalries

Since its creation in 1921, the Portuguese soccer team has maintained a sporting rivalry, mainly marked by its clashes throughout history, with neighboring Spain. With her he disputes the so-called "Iberian derby", being the team that Portugal has faced the most times throughout its history. The rivalry in their matches, typical of neighboring countries, also comes from the historical differences throughout of the history of both countries.

In recent years, new lesser rivalries have been forged, still due to their little historicity.

Players

More entries

Updated 26 March 2023.

Top scorers

Cristiano Ronaldo, maximum historical scorer of the selection with 120 goals in 197 matches.

Updated as of March 26, 2023.

Last call

List of the 25 called up for 2023.

N.o	Name	Position	Age	PJ	Goles	Club
22	Diogo Costa	Porter	23 years	11	0	F. C. Porto
12	José Sá	Porter	30 years	0	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers F. C.
1	Rui Patrício	Porter	35 years	105	0	A. S. Rome
4	Rúben Dias	Defence	25 years	44	2	Manchester City F. C.
24	António Silva	Defence	19 years	2	0	S. L. Benfica
25	Gonçalo Inácio	Defence	21 years	0	0	Sporting de Lisboa
	Diogo Leite	Defence	24 years	0	0	F. C. Berlin Union
19	Nuno Mendes	Defence	20 years	18	0	Paris Saint-Germain F. C.
5	Raphaël Guerreiro	Defence	29 years	61	4	Borussia Dortmund
20	João Cancelo	Defence	28 years	41	7	Bayern de Munich
2	Diogo Dalot	Defence	24 years	10	2	Manchester United F. C.
18	Rúben Neves	Mediocampista	26 years	37	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers F. C.
6	João Palhinha	Mediocampista	27 years	18	2	Fulham F. C.
13	Danilo Pereira	Mediocampista	31 years	64	2	Paris Saint-Germain F. C.
16	Vitinha	Mediocampista	23 years	8	0	Paris Saint-Germain F. C.
23	Matheus Nunes	Mediocampista	26 years	11	1	Wolverhampton Wanderers F. C.
17	João Mário	Mediocampista	30 years	55	3	S. L. Benfica
25	Otávio	Mediocampista	28 years	11	2	F. C. Porto
10	Bernardo Silva	Mediocampista	28 years	78	8	Manchester City F. C.
8	Bruno Fernandes	Mediocampista	28 years	53	13	Manchester United F. C.
15	Rafael Leão	Delantero	23 years	16	2	A. C. Milan
21	Diogo Jota	Delantero	26 years	29	10	Liverpool F. C.
11	João Félix	Delantero	23 years	28	4	Chelsea F.C.
26	Gonçalo Ramos	Delantero	21 years	5	4	S. L. Benfica
7	Cristiano Ronaldo	Delantero	38 years	196	118	Al-Nassr F. C.
	Fernando Santos	Coach	58 years

Selectors

Results

Last matches and upcoming matches

Date	City	Competition	Racha	Local		Results		Visitor
17/11/2022	Lisbon	Friendly Party		Portugal		4:0		Nigeria
24/11/2022	Doha	World Cup Soccer 2022		Portugal		3:2		Ghana
28/11/2022	Lusail	World Cup Soccer 2022		Portugal		2:0		Uruguay
02/12/2022	Rayán	World Cup Soccer 2022		South Korea		2:1		Portugal
06/12/2022	Lusail	World Cup Soccer 2022		Portugal		6:1		Switzerland
10/12/2022	Doha	World Cup Soccer 2022		Morocco		1:0		Portugal
23/03/2023	Lisbon	Euro Cup 2024		Portugal		4:0		Liechtenstein
26/03/2023	Luxembourg	Euro Cup 2024		Luxembourg		0:6		Portugal
17/06/2023	Lisbon	Euro Cup 2024		Portugal		-:		Bosnia and Herzegovina
20/06/2023	Reykjavík	Euro Cup 2024		Iceland		-:		Portugal

Statistics

Soccer World Cup

Year	Round	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	DG	Goleador
1930	No participation
1934	Not classified
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966	Third place	3.o	6	5	0	1	17	8	+9	Eusébio: 9
1970	Not classified
1974
1978
1982
1986	Group phase	17.	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	Diamantino, Manuel: 1
1990	Not classified
1994
1998
2002	Group phase	21.	3	1	0	2	6	4	+2	Pauleta: 3
2006	Fourth place	4.o	7	4	1	2	7	5	+2	Maniche: 2
2010	Final Octavos	11.	4	1	2	1	7	1	+6	Tiago: 2
2014	Group phase	18.	3	1	1	1	4	7	-3	Nani, Ronaldo and Varela: 1
2018	Final Octavos	13.	4	1	2	1	6	6	0	Cristiano Ronaldo: 4
2022	Final rooms	8.	5	3	0	2	12	6	+6	Gonçalo Ramos: 3
2026	To define
Total	8/23	15.	35	17	6	12	61	41	+20	Eusébio: 9

European Cup

Year	Round	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	DG	Goleador
1960	Not classified
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984	Semifinals	4.o	4	1	2	1	4	4	0	Rui Jordão: 2
1988	Not classified
1992
1996	Final rooms	5.o	4	2	1	1	5	2	+3	Couto, Figo, Paciência, Pinto y Sá Pinto: 1
2000	Semifinals	4.o	5	4	0	1	10	4	+6	Nuno Gomes: 4
2004	Subfield	2.	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	Costa, Maniche and Ronaldo: 2
2008	Final rooms	7.	4	2	0	2	7	6	+1	Deco, Gomes, Meireles, Pepe, Postiga and Ronaldo: 1
2012	Semifinals	4.o	5	3	1	1	6	4	+2	Cristiano Ronaldo: 3
2016	Champion	1.o	7	3	4	0	9	5	+4	Nani and Ronaldo: 3
2020	Final Octavos	13.	4	1	1	2	7	7	0	Cristiano Ronaldo: 5
2024	To be defined
Total	8/16	5.o	39	19	10	10	56	38	+18	Cristiano Ronaldo: 14

Nations League Finals

Year	Round	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	DG	Goleador
2019	Campeona	1.o	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	Cristiano Ronaldo: 3
2021	Not classified
2023	Not classified
Total	1/2	1.o	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	Cristiano Ronaldo: 3

Confederations Cup

Year	Round	Position	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	DG	Goleador
1992	Not classified
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2009
2013
2017	Third place	3.o	5	3	2	0	9	3	+6	Cristiano Ronaldo: 2
Total	1/10	12.	5	3	2	0	9	3	+6	Cristiano Ronaldo: 2

Honours of Prizes

Absolute selection

Under-21 team

• Toulon Hope Tournament:
  • Campeona: 1992, 2001 and 2003.
  • Subcampeona: 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2005.
  • Third: 1996, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2016.
• Eurocopa Sub-21:
  • Subcampeona: 1994, 2015 and 2021.
  • Third: 2004.

Under-20 team

• World Cup Soccer Sub-20:
  • Campeona: 1989 and 1991.
  • Subcampeona: 2011.
  • Third: 1995.

Under-19 team

• Sub-19:
  • Campeona: 1961, 1994, 1999 and 2018.
  • Subcampeona: 1971, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2003, 2014, 2017 and 2019.
  • Third: 1960, 1964 and 1968.

Under-17 team

• Sub-17:
  • Campeona: 1989, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2016.
  • Subcampeona: 1988.
  • Third: 2004, 2014.