Portugal national under-21 football team

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.

Portugal Under-21
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

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-up2nd430172
Spain 1996 Quarter-finals7th210112
Romania 1998 did not qualify
Slovakia 2000
Switzerland 2002 Group stage5th311144
Germany 2004 Third place3rd5212911
Portugal 2006 Group stage6th310213
Netherlands 2007 Group stage6th412152
Sweden 2009 did not qualify
Denmark 2011
Israel 2013
Czech Republic 2015 Runners-up2nd523071
Poland 2017 Group stage320175
Italy 2019 did not qualify
Hungary Slovenia 2021 Runners-up2nd6501124
TotalRunners-up9/2135187115334
*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 14 June 2022[1]
Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Caps
1Manuel FernandesBenfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia2004–200830
2Ricardo QuaresmaSporting CP, Barcelona, Porto2002–200628
 João PereiraBenfica, Gil Vicente, Braga2004–200828
 Silvestre VarelaSporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal2004–200728
5Fernando BrassardMarítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães1991–199427
 Hugo AlmeidaPorto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen2002–200727
7EdnilsonRoma, Benfica2000–200326
 Raul MeirelesAves, Boavista, Porto2003–200626
9Cândido CostaPorto, Vitória Setúbal, Derby County2000–200425

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

Top goalscorers
As of 14 June 2022[2]
Rank Player Club(s) Year(s) U-21 Goals
1Hugo AlmeidaPorto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen2002–200716
2Gonçalo RamosBenfica2020–14
3Fábio VieiraPorto, Arsenal2019–13
4Hélder PostigaPorto, Tottenham2001–200312
 ToniPorto, Braga1992–199412
6Diogo GonçalvesBenfica, Nottingham Forest2017–20188
 Simão SabrosaSporting CP, Barcelona1998–20018
 Diogo JotaPaços Ferreira, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers2015–20188
 Paulo CostaAlverca, Inter Milan, Reggina, Porto2000–20028
 Rui FonteArsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol2008–20128

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

Players

Current squad
  • The following players were called up for the friendly matches.[3]
  • Match dates: 24 and 28 March 2023
  • Opposition:  Romania and  Norway
  • Caps and goals correct as of: 24 March 2023, after the match against  Romania
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Celton Biai (2000-08-13) 13 August 2000 8 0 Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
1GK Samuel Soares (2002-06-15) 15 June 2002 4 0 Portugal Benfica
1GK Gonçalo Tabuaço (2001-03-11) 11 March 2001 1 0 Portugal B-SAD
2DF Nuno Tavares (2000-01-26) 26 January 2000 10 1 France Marseille
2DF Leonardo Lelo (2000-03-30) 30 March 2000 3 0 Portugal Casa Pia
2DF Penetra (2001-09-09) 9 September 2001 3 0 Portugal Famalicão
2DF Pedro Malheiro (2001-01-21) 21 January 2001 2 0 Portugal Boavista
2DF André Amaro (2002-08-13) 13 August 2002 1 0 Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
2DF Tomás Esteves (2002-04-03) 3 April 2002 1 0 Italy Pisa
2DF Tomás Araújo (2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 0 0 Portugal Gil Vicente
3MF Fábio Vieira (2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 23 14 England Arsenal
3MF Tiago Dantas (2000-12-24) 24 December 2000 12 0 Greece PAOK
3MF André Almeida (2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 10 1 Spain Valencia
3MF Afonso Sousa (2000-05-03) 3 May 2000 9 1 Poland Lech Poznań
3MF Vasco Sousa (2003-04-03) 3 April 2003 5 0 Portugal Porto
3MF David Costa (2001-01-05) 5 January 2001 4 1 France Lens
3MF Samú Costa (2000-11-27) 27 November 2000 1 1 Spain Almería
3MF Dani Silva (2000-04-11) 11 April 2000 0 0 Portugal Vitória de Guimarães
4FW Francisco Conceição (2002-12-14) 14 December 2002 14 3 Netherlands Ajax
4FW Henrique Araújo (2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 11 7 England Watford
4FW Fábio Silva (2002-07-19) 19 July 2002 11 6 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven
4FW Vitinha (2000-03-15) 15 March 2000 6 3 France Marseille
4FW Pedro Neto (2000-03-09) 9 March 2000 4 2 England Wolverhampton Wanderers

Recent call-ups
Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF João Mário (2000-01-03) 3 January 2000 15 1 Portugal Porto v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
DF Gonçalo Inácio (2001-08-25) 25 August 2001 6 1 Portugal Sporting CP v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
DF Bernardo Vital (2000-12-29) 29 December 2000 3 0 Portugal Estoril v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
DF Eduardo Quaresma (2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 10 0 Germany TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
MF Paulo Bernardo (2002-01-24) 24 January 2002 12 5 Portugal Benfica v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
MF Zé Carlos (2001-10-30) 30 October 2001 6 0 Portugal Vitória de Guimarães v.  Japan, 22 November 2022
FW Tiago Gouveia (2001-06-18) 18 June 2001 2 0 Portugal Estoril v.  Japan, 22 November 2022

Head coaches
As of 14 November 2017[4]
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: [5]

Honours

See also

References
  1. "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  2. "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  3. "Vasco Sousa Chamado" (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. 19 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  4. "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  5. "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
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