The FIFA World Cup has two international association football competitions, one contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The men's championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II, and the women's started in 1991.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Portugal men's team have qualified for the final phase of the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions: in 1966, 1986, 2002 and every final phase held since. Their best performance, as of 2022, is the third place in 1966; they also finished fourth in 2006.[1][2]
