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)
Association	Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Head coach	Rui Jorge
Captain	Diogo Jota
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
Liechtenstein 0–9 Portugal  (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 11 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
Italy 6–0 Portugal  Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	8 (first in 1994)
Best result	Runners-up in 1994, 2015

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
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
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	1	7	1
2017	Group stage		3	2	0	1	7	5
2019	Did not qualify
Total	Runners-up	8/20	29	13	7	10	41	30

*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 23 players have been called up for the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Poland.

Caps and goals are correct as of 20 November 2018 after the game against Poland.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Diogo Costa	(1999-09-19) 19 September 1999	4	0	Porto
12	1GK	Luís Maximiano	(1999-01-05) 5 January 1999	0	0	Sporting CP
22	1GK	João Virgínia	(1999-10-10) 10 October 1999	1	0	Reading
2	2DF	Thierry Correia	(1999-03-09) 9 March 1999	3	0	Valencia
3	2DF	Diogo Leite	(1999-01-23) 23 January 1999	8	0	Porto
4	2DF	Diogo Queirós	(1999-01-05) 5 January 1999	3	2	Mouscron
5	2DF	Rúben Vinagre	(1999-04-09) 9 April 1999	3	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers
13	2DF	Nuno Tavares	(2000-01-26) 26 January 2000	2	0	Benfica
15	2DF	Pedro Pereira	(1998-01-22) 22 January 1998	1	0	Bristol City
16	2DF	Tiago Djaló	(2000-04-09) 9 April 2000	0	0	Lille
21	2DF	Tomás Tavares	(2001-03-07) 7 March 2001	0	0	Benfica
6	3MF	Vítor Ferreira	(2000-02-11) 11 February 2000	3	0	Porto
7	3MF	Filipe Soares	(1999-05-20) 20 May 1999	1	0	Moreirense
14	3MF	Gedson Fernandes	(1999-01-09) 9 January 1999	2	0	Benfica
8	3MF	Miguel Luís	(1999-02-27) 27 February 1999	3	0	Sporting CP
21	3MF	Mathias Pereira Lage	(1996-11-30) 30 November 1996	3	0	Clermont
23	3MF	Stephen Eustáquio	(1996-12-21) 21 December 1996	7	0	Cruz Azul
18	3MF	Xadas	(1997-12-02) 2 December 1997	6	1	Braga
17	3MF	Bruno Costa	(1997-04-19) 19 April 1997	3	0	Porto
9	4FW	Diogo Jota	(1996-12-04) 4 December 1996	20	8	Wolverhampton Wanderers
16	4FW	Rafael Leão	(1999-06-10) 10 June 1999	5	0	Lille
11	4FW	Diogo Gonçalves	(1997-02-06) 6 February 1997	13	8	Benfica
20	4FW	João Félix	(1999-11-10) 10 November 1999	10	4	Benfica
19	4FW	Heriberto Tavares	(1996-02-16) 16 February 1996	9	6	Moreirense

Previous squads

U-21 European Championship squads 2015 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 2007 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 2006 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 2004 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 2002 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 1996 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal 1994 UEFA Under-21 Football Championship squads – Portugal

Head coaches

As of 14 November 2017[3]

Manager	Period	Record
		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: [4]

Honours

• UEFA Under-21 European Championship runners-up: 2015

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. "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
4. "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.