Portugal national under-21 football team

Portugal Under-21
Nickname(s)	Esperanças (Hopes)
Association	Federação Portuguesa; de Futebol
Head coach	Rui Jorge
Captain	Henrique Araújo
Most caps	Manuel Fernandes (30)
Top scorer	Hugo 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
Appearances	10 (first in 1994)
Best result	Runners-up (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	did not qualify
1982	did not enter
1984	did not qualify
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994	Runners-up	2nd	4	3	0	1	7	2
1996	Quarter-finals	7th	2	1	0	1	1	2
1998	did not qualify
2000	did not qualify
2002	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	4	4
2004	Third place	3rd	5	2	1	2	9	11
2006	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	1	3
2007	Group stage	6th	4	1	2	1	5	2
2009	did not qualify
2011
2013
2015	Runners-up	2nd	5	2	3	0	7	1
2017	Group stage		3	2	0	1	7	5
2019	did not qualify
2021	Runners-up	2nd	6	5	0	1	12	4
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

As of 7 July 2023^[1]

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Manuel Fernandes	Benfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia	2004–2008	30
2	João Pereira	Benfica, Gil Vicente, Braga	2004–2008	28
Ricardo Quaresma	Sporting CP, Barcelona, Porto	2002–2006
Silvestre Varela	Sporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal	2004–2007
5	Fernando Brassard	Marítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães	1991–1994	27
Hugo Almeida	Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen	2002–2007
7	Ednilson	Roma, Benfica	2000–2003	26
Raul Meireles	Aves, Boavista, Porto	2003–2006
9	Cândido Costa	Porto, Vitória Setúbal, Derby County	2000–2004	25
Fábio Vieira	Porto, Arsenal	2019–2023

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

Top goalscorers

As of 26 March 2024^[2]

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Goals
1	Hugo Almeida	Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen	2002–2007	16
2	Fábio Vieira	Porto, Arsenal	2019–2023	14
Gonçalo Ramos	Benfica	2020–2022
4	Fábio Silva	Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers	2021–	12
Hélder Postiga	Porto, Tottenham	2001–2003
Toni	Porto, Braga	1992–1994
7	Henrique Araújo	Benfica, Watford, Famalicão	2021–	9
8	Diogo Gonçalves	Benfica, Nottingham Forest	2017–2018	8
Diogo Jota	Paços Ferreira, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers	2015–2018
Paulo Costa	Reggina, Porto	2000–2002
Rui Fonte	Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol	2008–2012
Simão Sabrosa	Sporting CP, Barcelona	1998–2001

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

Players

Current squad

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

The following 23 players were called up for the UEFA Under-21 Euro 2025 qualifying matches against Faroe Islands and Croatia on 21 and 26 March 2024, respectively.^[3]

Caps and goals correct as of: 26 March 2024, after the match against Croatia

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Samuel Soares	(2002-06-15) 15 June 2002 (age 21)	11	0	Benfica
12	1GK	João Carvalho	(2004-04-09) 9 April 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Braga
22	1GK	Diogo Pinto	(2004-06-18) 18 June 2004 (age 19)	0	0	Sporting CP

2	2DF	Tomás Esteves	(2002-04-03) 3 April 2002 (age 22)	5	0	Pisa
3	2DF	Renato Veiga	(2003-07-29) 29 July 2003 (age 20)	7	1	Basel
4	2DF	Tomás Araújo	(2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 (age 21)	10	0	Benfica
5	2DF	Rafael Rodrigues	(2002-01-27) 27 January 2002 (age 22)	8	0	Benfica
13	2DF	Leonardo Buta	(2002-06-05) 5 June 2002 (age 21)	3	0	Gil Vicente
14	2DF	Eduardo Quaresma	(2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 (age 22)	10	0	Sporting CP
16	2DF	Tiago Santos	(2002-07-23) 23 July 2002 (age 21)	4	0	Lille

6	3MF	Mateus Fernandes	(2004-07-10) 10 July 2004 (age 19)	7	2	Estoril
7	3MF	Vasco Sousa	(2003-04-03) 3 April 2003 (age 21)	11	0	Porto
8	3MF	Paulo Bernardo (3rd captain)	(2002-01-24) 24 January 2002 (age 22)	23	7	Celtic
15	3MF	Bernardo Folha	(2002-03-23) 23 March 2002 (age 22)	2	0	Porto
18	3MF	João Marques	(2002-02-13) 13 February 2002 (age 22)	5	1	Estoril
20	3MF	Gustavo Sá	(2004-11-11) 11 November 2004 (age 19)	1	0	Famalicão
21	3MF	Martim Neto	(2003-01-14) 14 January 2003 (age 21)	2	0	Gil Vicente

9	4FW	Fábio Silva	(2002-07-19) 19 July 2002 (age 21)	22	12	Rangers
10	4FW	Pedro Santos	(2003-02-10) 10 February 2003 (age 21)	5	3	Benfica
11	4FW	Tiago Tomás	(2002-06-16) 16 June 2002 (age 21)	14	2	VfL Wolfsburg
17	4FW	Carlos Forbs	(2004-03-19) 19 March 2004 (age 20)	4	1	Ajax
19	4FW	Youssef Chermiti	(2004-05-24) 24 May 2004 (age 19)	2	1	Everton
23	4FW	Rodrigo Gomes	(2003-07-07) 7 July 2003 (age 20)	6	3	Estoril

Recent call-ups

The following players have previously been called up to the under-21 squad and remain eligible for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Francisco Lemos	(2002-09-13) 13 September 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Atlético CP	v. Greece, 20 November 2023
GK	Gonçalo Ribeiro	(2006-01-15) 15 January 2006 (age 18)	0	0	Porto	v. Belarus, 12 September 2023

DF	Gabriel Brás	(2004-03-25) 25 March 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Porto	v. Greece, 20 November 2023
DF	Rafael Fernandes	(2002-06-28) 28 June 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Lille	v. Greece, 20 November 2023 ^INJ
DF	André Amaro	(2002-08-13) 13 August 2002 (age 21)	4	0	Al-Rayyan	v. Andorra, 8 September 2023 ^INJ

MF	Dário Essugo	(2005-03-14) 14 March 2005 (age 19)	3	0	Chaves	v. Greece, 17 October 2023
MF	Hugo Félix	(2004-03-03) 3 March 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Benfica	v. Greece, 17 October 2023
MF	João Neves	(2004-09-27) 27 September 2004 (age 19)	6	1	Benfica	v. Belarus, 12 September 2023

FW	Henrique Araújo (Captain)	(2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 22)	22	9	Famalicão	v. Greece, 20 November 2023
FW	Francisco Conceição (Vice-captain)	(2002-12-14) 14 December 2002 (age 21)	23	6	Porto	v. Greece, 20 November 2023
FW	Tiago Morais	(2003-09-03) 3 September 2003 (age 20)	3	0	Boavista	v. Greece, 20 November 2023
FW	Diego Moreira	(2004-08-06) 6 August 2004 (age 19)	4	0	Chelsea	v. Belarus, 12 September 2023
^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^OTH Player withdrew from the squad due to other reasons.

Head coaches

As of 14 November 2017^[4]

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

Source: ^[5]

Honours

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

References

^ "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
^ "Convocados para encontros com as Ilhas Faroé e Croácia" (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
^ "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
^ "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

External links

Official site (in Portuguese)
UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.

[1] "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.

[2] "Jogadores" [Players]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 14 June 2022.

[3] "Convocados para encontros com as Ilhas Faroé e Croácia" (in Portuguese). Federação Portuguesa de Futebol. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.

[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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[5]

v t e Reserve and youth football in Portugal
National teams	Portugal B U-23 U-21 U-20 U-19 U-18 U-17 U-16 U-15 U-14 U-13 U-12
Nationwide competitions	Juniores Juvenis Iniciados Infantis
Regional competitions	Juniores Juvenis Iniciados Infantis Sub-13 Infantis Sub-12 Benjamins Escolinhas Traquinas Petizes
Defunct competitions	Liga Intercalar