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Portugal national under-21 football team
National association football team
National association football team
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Portugal Under-21 |
| Nickname | Esperanças (Hopes) |
| Association | *Federação Portuguesa |
| de Futebol* | |
| Coach | Luis Freire |
| Captain | Mateus Fernandes |
| Most caps | Manuel Fernandes (30) |
| Top scorer | Hugo Almeida (16) |
| pattern_la1 | _por25h |
| pattern_b1 | _por25h |
| pattern_ra1 | _por25h |
| pattern_sh1 | _por25h |
| pattern_so1 | _por25h |
| leftarm1 | dc0109 |
| body1 | dc0109 |
| rightarm1 | dc0109 |
| shorts1 | 2b4e48 |
| socks1 | dc0109 |
| pattern_la2 | _por25a |
| pattern_b2 | _por25a |
| pattern_ra2 | _por25a |
| pattern_sh2 | _por25a |
| pattern_so2 | _por25a |
| shorts2 | ffffff |
| socks2 | ffffff |
| First game | 3–1 |
| (Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958) | |
| Largest win | 11–0 |
| (Vizela, Portugal; 7 October 2021) | |
| 0–11 | |
| (Gibraltar; 14 October 2025) | |
| Largest loss | 6–0 |
| Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987 | |
| UEFAu21Champ apps | 10 |
| UEFAu21Champ first | 1994 |
| UEFAu21Champ best | Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021) |
de Futebol](portuguese-football-federation)*
(Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958)
(Vizela, Portugal; 7 October 2021)
0–11
(Gibraltar; 14 October 2025)
Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987
The Portugal national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). They are nicknamed "Esperanças". Esperança means hope, thus they are Portugal's hopes for the future.
Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Portuguese under-21 team was formed. Until 1994, the team had a rather poor record, failing to qualify for each of the first eight UEFA under-21 Championships. Since 1994, the team has improved its record greatly, qualifying for five of the next seven tournaments, including the 2006 finals.
Having qualified for the 2006 tournament finals, UEFA announced that Portugal would host the finals in May and June. From 2007 onwards, host nations will be announced before the qualification stage and will not need to qualify.
Competitive record
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
| Year | Round | Position | Games | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1982 | did not enter | |||||||
| 1984 | did not qualify | |||||||
| 1986 | ||||||||
| 1988 | ||||||||
| 1990 | ||||||||
| 1992 | ||||||||
| France 1994 | Runners-up | 2nd | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Spain 1996 | Quarter-finals | 7th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Romania 1998 | did not qualify | |||||||
| Slovakia 2000 | ||||||||
| Switzerland 2002 | Group stage | 5th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Germany 2004 | Third place | 3rd | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| Portugal 2006 | Group stage | 6th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Netherlands 2007 | Group stage | 6th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Sweden 2009 | did not qualify | |||||||
| Denmark 2011 | ||||||||
| Israel 2013 | ||||||||
| Czech Republic 2015 | Runners-up | 2nd | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Poland 2017 | Group stage | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | |
| Italy 2019 | did not qualify | |||||||
| Hungary Slovenia 2021 | Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 |
| Romania Georgia 2023 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Total | Runners-up | 10/24 | 39 | 19 | 8 | 12 | 56 | 39 |
:*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. :**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won. :***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.
Player records
Top appearances
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Portugal squad within the last twelve months.
SEN Player withdrew from the squad due to a call-up to the senior squad.
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
OTH Player withdrew from the squad due to other reasons.
PRE Preliminary squad.
Head coaches
!W !D !L !GF !GA !GD !Win % |- | POR José Alberto Costa
| –1993 |
|---|
| POR Nelo Vingada |
| 1994–1996 |
| - |
| POR Jesualdo Ferreira |
| 1996–2000 |
| - |
| POR Agostinho Oliveira |
| 2000–2002 |
| - |
| POR Rui Caçador |
| 2002 |
| - |
| POR José Romão |
| 2002–2004 |
| - |
| POR Rui Caçador |
| 2004 |
| - |
| POR Agostinho Oliveira |
| 2004–2006 |
| - |
| POR José Couceiro |
| 2006–2007 |
| - |
| POR Rui Caçador |
| 2007–2009 |
| - |
| POR Oceano Cruz |
| 2009–2010 |
| - |
| POR Rui Jorge |
| 2010–2025 |
| - |
| POR Luis Freire |
| 2025–Present |
Honours
Third place (1): 2004
Notes
References
References
- "Jogadores". FPF.pt.
- (7 November 2025). "Convocatória para encontro com a Chéquia". Federação Portuguesa de Futebol.
- "Portugal-Suíca". FPF.pt.
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