Portugal national under-21 football team

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Portugal Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Esperanças (Hopes)
AssociationFederação Portuguesa
de Futebol
Head coachRui Jorge
CaptainDiogo Queirós
Most capsManuel Fernandes (30)
Top scorerHugo Almeida (16)
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Portugal 3–1 South Africa 
(Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958)
Biggest win
 Portugal 11–0 Liechtenstein 
(Vizela, Portugal; 7 October 2021)
Biggest defeat
 Italy 6–0 Portugal 
Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987
Records for competitive
matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances9 (first in 1994)
Best resultRunners-up in 1994, 2015, 2021

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
Total Runners-up 9/21 35 18 7 11 53 34
*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[]

As of 9 September 2008[1]
Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Caps
1 Manuel Fernandes Benfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia 2004–2008 30
2 Silvestre Varela Sporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal 2004–2007 28
  Ricardo Quaresma Sporting CP, Barcelona, Porto 2002–2006 28
  João Pereira Benfica, Gil Vicente, Braga 2004–2008 28
  Fernando Brassard Marítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães 1991–1994 28
6 Hugo Almeida Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen 2002–2007 27
7 Ednilson Roma, Benfica 2000–2003 26
  Raul Meireles Aves, Boavista, Porto 2003–2006 26
9 Edgar Alverca, Real Madrid, Málaga 1997–1999 25
  Cândido Costa Porto, Vitória Setúbal, Derby County 2000–2004 25

Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers[]

As of 30 June 2015[2]
Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Goals
1 Hugo Almeida Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen 2002–2007 16
2 Hélder Postiga Porto, Tottenham 2001–2003 12
  Toni Porto, Braga 1992–1994 12
4 Paulo Costa Alverca, Inter Milan, Reggina, Porto 2000–2002 9
5 Simão Sabrosa Sporting CP, Barcelona 1998–2001 8
  Rui Fonte Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol 2008–2012 8
7 Orlando Sá Braga, Porto 2008–2010 7
  Miguel Bruno Feirense, Paços Ferreira, Beira-Mar 1992–1994 7
  Dani Sporting CP, West Ham United, Ajax 1995–1996 7
  Ivan Cavaleiro Benfica, Deportivo La Coruña 2013–2015 7

Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Current squad[]

  • The following players were called up for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification.[3][4]
  • Match dates: 12 and 16 November 2021
  • Opposition:  Cyprus
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Club
1 1GK Celton Biai (2000-08-13) 13 August 2000 (age 21) Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
12 1GK Gonçalo Tabuaço (2001-03-11) 11 March 2001 (age 20) Portugal Estrela da Amadora
22 1GK João Gonçalves (2000-11-05) 5 November 2000 (age 21) Portugal Boavista
2 2DF Alexandre Penetra (2001-09-09) 9 September 2001 (age 20) Portugal Famalicão
3 2DF Gonçalo Inácio (2001-08-25) 25 August 2001 (age 20) Portugal Sporting CP
4 2DF Eduardo Quaresma (2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 (age 19) Portugal Tondela
5 2DF Nuno Tavares (2000-01-26) 26 January 2000 (age 22) England Arsenal
11 2DF João Mário (2000-01-03) 3 January 2000 (age 22) Portugal Porto
13 2DF Tiago Araújo (2001-03-27) 27 March 2001 (age 20) Portugal Arouca
15 2DF Tomás Tavares (2001-03-07) 7 March 2001 (age 20) Switzerland Basel
2DF Tiago Djaló (2000-04-09) 9 April 2000 (age 21) France Lille
6 3MF Tomás Händel (2000-11-27) 27 November 2000 (age 21) Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
7 3MF Vitinha (2000-02-13) 13 February 2000 (age 21) Portugal Porto
8 3MF Paulo Bernardo (2002-01-24) 24 January 2002 (age 20) Portugal Benfica
10 3MF Tiago Dantas (2000-12-24) 24 December 2000 (age 21) Portugal Tondela
16 3MF Afonso Sousa (2000-05-03) 3 May 2000 (age 21) Portugal Belenenses SAD
17 3MF André Almeida (2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 (age 21) Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
23 3MF Fábio Vieira (2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 (age 21) Portugal Porto
9 4FW Henrique Araújo (2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 20) Portugal Benfica
14 4FW Gonçalo Borges (2001-03-29) 29 March 2001 (age 20) Portugal Porto
18 4FW Gonçalo Ramos (2001-06-20) 20 June 2001 (age 20) Portugal Benfica
19 4FW Vítor Oliveira (2000-03-15) 15 March 2000 (age 21) Portugal Braga
20 4FW Fábio Silva (2002-07-19) 19 July 2002 (age 19) England Wolverhampton Wanderers
21 4FW Chiquinho (2000-02-05) 5 February 2000 (age 21) Portugal Estoril

Previous squads[]

Head coaches[]

As of 14 November 2017[5]
Manager Period Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Portugal José Alberto Costa –1993 12 8 1 3 22 10 +12 066.67
Portugal Nelo Vingada 1994–1996 22 14 5 3 33 14 +19 063.64
Portugal Jesualdo Ferreira 1996–2000 33 19 5 9 64 36 +28 057.58
Portugal Agostinho Oliveira 2000–2002 22 11 4 7 39 21 +18 050.00
Portugal Rui Caçador 2002 3 2 0 1 5 4 +1 066.67
Portugal José Romão 2002–2004 18 12 2 4 44 27 +17 066.67
Portugal Rui Caçador 2004 1 0 1 0 0 0 +0 000.00
Portugal Agostinho Oliveira 2004–2006 18 14 1 3 36 9 +27 077.78
Portugal José Couceiro 2006–2007 13 7 3 3 22 9 +13 053.85
Portugal Rui Caçador 2007–2009 27 15 4 8 54 22 +32 055.56
Portugal Oceano Cruz 2009–2010 12 6 2 4 17 12 +5 050.00
Portugal Rui Jorge 2010–present 69 47 14 8 154 54 +100 068.12

Source: [6]

Honours[]

  • UEFA Under-21 European Championship runners-up: 1994, 2015, 2021

See also[]

  • Golden generation

References[]

  1. ^ "Portugal-Irlanda" [Portugal - Ireland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Suécia-Portugal" [Sweden - Portugal]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Convocados para jogos com o Chipre" (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Alexandre Penetra chamado" (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

External links[]

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