Portugal national under-21 football team

Portugal Under-21
Nickname(s)	Esperanças (Hopes)
Association	Federação Portuguesa; de Futebol
Head coach	Rui Jorge
Captain	Diogo Queirós
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	9 (first in 1994)
Best result	Runners-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	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
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 14 June 2022^[1]

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Manuel Fernandes	Benfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia	2004–2008	30
2	Ricardo Quaresma	Sporting CP, Barcelona, Porto	2002–2006	28
	João Pereira	Benfica, Gil Vicente, Braga	2004–2008	28
	Silvestre Varela	Sporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal	2004–2007	28
5	Fernando Brassard	Marítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães	1991–1994	27
	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	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 14 June 2022^[2]

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Goals
1	Hugo Almeida	Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen	2002–2007	16
2	Gonçalo Ramos	Benfica	2020–	14
3	Fábio Vieira	Porto	2019–	13
4	Hélder Postiga	Porto, Tottenham	2001–2003	12
	Toni	Porto, Braga	1992–1994	12
6	Diogo Gonçalves	Benfica, Nottingham Forest	2017–2018	8
	Simão Sabrosa	Sporting CP, Barcelona	1998–2001	8
	Diogo Jota	Paços Ferreira, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers	2015–2018	8
	Paulo Costa	Alverca, Inter Milan, Reggina, Porto	2000–2002	8
	Rui Fonte	Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol	2008–2012	8

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: 4, 7 and 11 June 2022
Opposition: Belarus, Liechtenstein, Greece

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1	1GK	Celton Biai	(2000-08-13) 13 August 2000 (age 23)	Vitória Guimarães
12	1GK	Samuel Soares	(2002-06-15) 15 June 2002 (age 21)	Benfica B
22	1GK	Gonçalo Tabuaço	(2001-03-11) 11 March 2001 (age 22)	Belenenses SAD

2	2DF	Tiago Djaló	(2000-04-09) 9 April 2000 (age 23)	Lille
3	2DF	Gonçalo Inácio	(2001-08-25) 25 August 2001 (age 21)	Sporting CP
4	2DF	Alexandre Penetra	(2001-09-09) 9 September 2001 (age 21)	Famalicão
5	2DF	Rafael Rodrigues	(2002-01-27) 27 January 2002 (age 21)	Benfica B
11	2DF	João Mário	(2000-01-03) 3 January 2000 (age 23)	Porto
13	2DF	Nuno Tavares	(2000-01-26) 26 January 2000 (age 23)	Marseille
14	2DF	Rodrigo Conceição	(2000-01-02) 2 January 2000 (age 23)	Porto B
	2DF	Eduardo Quaresma	(2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 (age 21)	Hoffenheim

6	3MF	Tiago Dantas	(2000-12-24) 24 December 2000 (age 22)	PAOK
7	3MF	Fábio Carvalho	(2002-08-30) 30 August 2002 (age 20)	Liverpool
8	3MF	Paulo Bernardo	(2002-01-24) 24 January 2002 (age 21)	Benfica
15	3MF	Zé Carlos	(2001-10-30) 30 October 2001 (age 21)	Vitória Guimarães
17	3MF	Vasco Sousa	(2003-04-03) 3 April 2003 (age 20)	Porto B
21	3MF	André Almeida	(2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 (age 23)	Valencia
23	3MF	Afonso Sousa	(2000-05-03) 3 May 2000 (age 23)	Lech Poznań
	3MF	Fábio Vieira (Captain)	(2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 (age 23)	Arsenal

9	4FW	Henrique Araújo	(2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 21)	Benfica
10	4FW	Francisco Conceição	(2002-12-14) 14 December 2002 (age 20)	Ajax
16	4FW	David Costa	(2001-01-05) 5 January 2001 (age 22)	RC Lens
18	4FW	Gonçalo Ramos	(2001-06-20) 20 June 2001 (age 22)	Benfica
19	4FW	Vitinha	(2000-03-15) 15 March 2000 (age 23)	Braga
20	4FW	Fábio Silva	(2002-07-19) 19 July 2002 (age 21)	Anderlecht

Previous squads

U-21 European Championship squads

Head coaches

As of 14 November 2017^[5]

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: ^[6]

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.
^ "Eleitos para os últimos jogos de qualificação" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 20 May 2022.
^ "Grupo novamente reunido" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 30 May 2022.
^ "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] "Eleitos para os últimos jogos de qualificação" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 20 May 2022.

[4] "Grupo novamente reunido" (in Portuguese). Portuguese Football Federation. 30 May 2022.

[5] "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

[6] "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

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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