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
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	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]

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

Top goalscorers

As of 13 October 2023^[2]

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 Belarus and Greece on 13 and 17 October 2023, respectively.^[3]

Caps and goals correct as of: 17 October 2023, after the match against  Greece

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Samuel Soares	(2002-06-15) 15 June 2002 (age 21)	9	0	Benfica
12	1GK	João Carvalho	(2004-04-09) 9 April 2004 (age 19)	0	0	Braga
22	1GK	Francisco Lemos	(2002-09-13) 13 September 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Atlético CP
2	2DF	Tiago Santos	(2002-07-23) 23 July 2002 (age 21)	2	0	Lille
3	2DF	Renato Veiga	(2003-07-29) 29 July 2003 (age 20)	4	1	Basel
4	2DF	Tomás Araújo	(2002-05-16) 16 May 2002 (age 21)	7	0	Benfica
5	2DF	Leonardo Buta	(2002-06-05) 5 June 2002 (age 21)	3	0	Gil Vicente
13	2DF	Rafael Fernandes	(2002-06-28) 28 June 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Arouca
14	2DF	Eduardo Quaresma	(2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 (age 21)	10	0	Sporting CP
15	2DF	Rafael Rodrigues	(2002-01-27) 27 January 2002 (age 21)	5	0	Benfica
6	3MF	Dário Essugo	(2005-03-14) 14 March 2005 (age 18)	3	0	Sporting CP
7	3MF	Vasco Sousa	(2003-04-03) 3 April 2003 (age 20)	9	0	Porto
8	3MF	Paulo Bernardo	(2002-01-24) 24 January 2002 (age 22)	20	6	Celtic
16	3MF	Hugo Félix	(2004-03-03) 3 March 2004 (age 19)	1	0	Benfica
17	3MF	Mateus Fernandes	(2004-07-10) 10 July 2004 (age 19)	4	1	Estoril
18	3MF	João Marques	(2002-02-13) 13 February 2002 (age 21)	3	1	Estoril
9	4FW	Henrique Araújo (Captain)	(2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 22)	21	9	Famalicão
10	4FW	Francisco Conceição (Vice-captain)	(2002-12-14) 14 December 2002 (age 21)	22	5	Porto
11	4FW	Carlos Forbs	(2004-03-19) 19 March 2004 (age 19)	3	0	Ajax
19	4FW	Tiago Tomás	(2002-06-16) 16 June 2002 (age 21)	11	2	VfL Wolfsburg
20	4FW	Fábio Silva	(2002-07-19) 19 July 2002 (age 21)	19	10	Rangers
21	4FW	Tiago Morais	(2003-09-03) 3 September 2003 (age 20)	2	0	Boavista
23	4FW	Rodrigo Gomes	(2003-07-07) 7 July 2003 (age 20)	3	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	Gonçalo Ribeiro	(2006-01-15) 15 January 2006 (age 18)	0	0	Porto	v.  Belarus, 12 September 2023
DF	André Amaro	(2002-08-13) 13 August 2002 (age 21)	4	0	Al-Rayyan	v.  Andorra, 8 September 2023 INJ
DF	Tomás Esteves	(2002-04-03) 3 April 2002 (age 21)	3	0	Pisa	v.  Norway, 28 March 2023
MF	João Neves	(2004-09-27) 27 September 2004 (age 19)	6	1	Benfica	v.  Belarus, 12 September 2023
MF	Bernardo Folha	(2002-03-23) 23 March 2002 (age 21)	1	0	Porto	v.  Belarus, 12 September 2023
FW	Diego Moreira	(2004-08-06) 6 August 2004 (age 19)	4	0	Lyon	v.  Belarus, 12 September 2023
FW	Pedro Santos	(2003-02-10) 10 February 2003 (age 20)	2	0	Benfica	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
		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

Honours

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