Portugal national under-21 football team

The Portugal national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Portugal. It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). They are nicknamed "Esperanças," which means hope, as 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
 Liechtenstein 0–9 Portugal 
(Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 11 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
[[File:{{{flag alias-1946}}}|22x20px|border |alt=|link=]] Italy 6–0 Portugal 
Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987
Records for competitive
matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances8 (first in 1994)
Best resultRunners-up in 1994, 2015

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 0 7 1
  2017 Group stage 3 2 0 1 7 5
  2019 Did not qualify
    2021 Qualified
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 in Portugal"

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.

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 66.67
  Nelo Vingada 1994–1996 22 14 5 3 33 14 +19 63.64
  Jesualdo Ferreira 1996–2000 33 19 5 9 64 36 +28 57.58
  Agostinho Oliveira 2000–2002 22 11 4 7 39 21 +18 50.00
  Rui Caçador 2002 3 2 0 1 5 4 +1 66.67
  José Romão 2002–2004 18 12 2 4 44 27 +17 66.67
  Rui Caçador 2004 1 0 1 0 0 0 +0 &00.00
  Agostinho Oliveira 2004–2006 18 14 1 3 36 9 +27 77.78
  José Couceiro 2006–2007 13 7 3 3 22 9 +13 53.85
  Rui Caçador 2007–2009 27 15 4 8 54 22 +32 55.56
  Oceano Cruz 2009–2010 12 6 2 4 17 12 +5 50.00
  Rui Jorge 2010–present 69 47 14 8 154 54 +100 68.12

Source: [3]

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Honours

References

  1. "Portugal-Irlanda" [Portugal - Ireland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  2. "Suécia-Portugal" [Sweden - Portugal]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Portugal-Suíca" [Portugal - Switzerland]. FPF.pt. Retrieved 12 December 2017.

Other websites