The Portugal national football team () has represented Portugal in men's international football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home stadium is the Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, located next to its primary training ground and the FPF headquarters (Cidade do Futebol), but the team usually plays its home matches in more modern stadiums throughout the country, such as the Estádio da Luz, Estádio José Alvalade and the Estádio do Dragão. The head coach is Jorge Jesus, and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and most goals.
Portugal's first participation in a major tournament finals was at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, which saw a team featuring Ballon d'Or winner Eusébio finish in third place. Since the 2000s, Portugal started an uninterrupted streak of qualification for every European Championship and World Cup finals, including a runners-up finish at Euro 2004 on home soil. They experienced much of their success in the late 2010s to mid 2020s, during the captaincy of Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, where they won their first-ever major trophy Euro 2016 and the UEFA Nations League in 2019, hosting the first finals, and a record second time in 2025.
Portugal is colloquially referred to as the Seleção das Quinas (a synecdoche based on the flag of the country) and has several notable rivalries with other national teams. These include Spain, due to their historical rivalry as Iberian neighbours; as well as France due to several high-stake meetings against them at the Euro and World Cup.
History
Early World Cup attempts Portugal were not invited to the 1930 World Cup, which only featured a finals stage and no qualification round. The team took part in the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification, but failed to eliminate their Spanish opponents, aggregating two defeats in the two-legged round, with a 9–0 loss in Madrid and 2–1 loss in Lisbon for an aggregate score of 11–1.
In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Seleção played one game against Switzerland held in neutral ground in Milan. They lost 2–1 and failed to qualify for the finals. The Second World War delayed the World Cup until 1950 and subsequently, the national team rarely played. A 10–0 home friendly loss against England, two years after the war, still stands as their biggest ever defeat.
1950s and early 1960s Similar to 1934, Portugal were to play a two-legged round against Spain. After a 5–1 defeat in Madrid, they managed to draw the second game 2–2. With a 7–3 aggregate score, they did not qualify on the pitch, however they would later be invited to replace Turkey, which had withdrawn from participating. Portugal refused to participate.
In 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification, the team would play Austria; the Austrians won the first game with a 9–1 result. The best the Portuguese could do was hold the Austrians to a goalless draw in Lisbon, resulting in a 9–1 aggregate defeat. Four years later, Portugal won a qualifying match for the first time, a 3–0 home victory over Italy. Nevertheless, they finished last in a group that also featured Northern Ireland; only the first-placed team, Northern Ireland, would qualify.
1960 was the year that UEFA created the European Championship. The first edition was a knock-out tournament with the last four teams participating in the finals stage that only featured one leg while the earlier stages had two legs. In the first round, the Seleção das Quinas won 2–0 at East Germany and then 3–2 in Porto, advancing with a 5–2 two-legged win. Portugal faced Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals, losing 6–3 on aggregate.Matateu. Ele é que foi o D. Sebastião (Matateu. The real D. Sebastião) ; i, 27 January 2010 (in Portuguese)
Portugal faced England and Luxembourg in 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification and ended up second in the group, behind England, who would be the only team in Group 6 to qualify. In the 1964 European Championship, Portugal played against Bulgaria in the qualifying rounds. The Portuguese lost in Sofia and won in Lisbon. With the round tied 4–4, a replay was needed in a neutral country. In the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Portugal lost 1–0 thanks to a late strike from Georgi Asparuhov.
Third place at the 1966 World Cup Portugal were drawn with Czechoslovakia, Romania and Turkey for 1966 World Cup qualification. They topped the group with only one draw and one defeat in six games and finally qualified for a FIFA World Cup, with a 1–0 away win against Czechoslovakia and Turkey and a 5–1 home win against the Turks being notable results.
At the World Cup, the team started out with three wins in the group stage after they beat Hungary 3–1, Bulgaria 3–0, and two-time defending champions Brazil 3–1. Secondly, they beat quarter-finalists North Korea 5–3, with Eusébio getting four markers to overturn a 3–0 deficit. Later, they reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by hosts England 2–1; in this game, Portugal would have played in Liverpool, but as England were the hosts, FIFA decided that the game would be played in London. Portugal then defeated the Soviet Union 2–1 in the third place match for their best World Cup finish to date. Eusébio was the top scorer of the World Cup with nine goals. Portugal would not qualify for another World Cup for 20 years.
1980s Portugal won their Euro 1984 qualifying group that contained Finland, Poland and the Soviet Union with a win over the latter, allowing them to qualify and be placed in Group B alongside Spain, West Germany and Romania in the finals. In the first two matches, they drew 0–0 and 1–1 against West Germany and Spain, respectively. A 1–0 win over Romania resulted in a second-place finish in group play. Portugal were paired against hosts France in the semi-finals. After a draw in regular time, Portugal initially led 2–1 in extra time, but the hosts scored in the 114th and 119th minutes to eliminate the Portuguese 3–2 and go through to the final.
For 1986 World Cup qualification, the Seleção played against Czechoslovakia, Malta, Sweden and West Germany for the two spots that would guarantee them a ticket to Mexico. Needing a win in the last game against West Germany in Stuttgart, Portugal won the game to become the first team to beat West Germany at their home ground in an official match. The team exited early in the group stages after a win and two losses. They started with a 1–0 win against England, but later were beaten by Poland and Morocco 1–0 and 3–1 respectively. Their staying in Mexico was marked by the Saltillo Affair, where players refused to train in order to win more prizes from the Portuguese Football Federation. Mexico marked their last World Cup appearance until 2002.
1995–2006: The golden generation At UEFA Euro 1996, Portugal finished first in Group D, and in the quarter-finals, they lost 1–0 to the Czech Republic.
Portugal failed to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. In Euro 2000 qualifying, Portugal finished second in their group, one point short of first-placed Romania. However, after finishing as the top runner-up nation in qualifying, Portugal nonetheless secured a spot in the finals. They then defeated England 3–2, Romania 1–0 and Germany 3–0 to finish first in Group A, then defeated Turkey in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals against France, Portugal were eliminated in extra time when Zinedine Zidane converted a penalty. Referee Günter Benkö awarded the spot kick for a handball after Abel Xavier blocked a shot. Xavier, Nuno Gomes and Paulo Bento were all given lengthy suspensions for subsequently shoving the referee. The final eventually finished 2–1.
During 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Portugal won the group. Several problems and poor judgement decisions occurred during the preparation and tournament itself and were widely reported in the Portuguese press, including questionable managing choices and some amateurism, as well as lack of agreement on prizes. Portugal entered the tournament as favourites to win Group D. However, they were upset 3–2 by the United States. They then rebounded with a 4–0 victory over Poland. Needing a draw to advance, they lost the last group game to hosts South Korea. Portugal underachieved and ended third in its group stage, subsequently eliminated. Manager António Oliveira was fired after the World Cup.
The next major competition, the UEFA Euro 2004, was held in Portugal. For preparation, the Football Federation made a contract with Luiz Felipe Scolari to manage the team until the tournament ended. The host nation lost the first game against Greece 1–2. They achieved their first win against Russia 2–0 and also beat Spain 1–0. They went on to play against England, in a 2–2 draw that went into penalties, with Portugal winning. Portugal beat the Netherlands 2–1 in the semi-finals, and suffered a second defeat from Greece, 1–0, in the final.
After the tournament ended, many players belonging to the Geração de Ouro (Golden Generation), abandoned their international footballing careers, with only Luís Figo remaining in the team, despite a temporary retirement. The silver lining for Portugal was the emergence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was selected in the UEFA Euro All-Star team. While Portugal were playing in the competition, Scolari agreed in a new two-year deal with the Federation.
Portugal finished first in the qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup, and topped Group D in the World Cup, with victories over Angola (1–0), Iran (2–0) and Mexico (2–1). Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1–0 in the Round of 16 in an infamous matched that has come to be known as the Battle of Nuremberg, marked by violent fouls and many players cautioned or sent off by referee Valentin Ivanov. Portugal drew 0–0 after extra time with England in the quarter-final, but won 3–1 on penalties to reach their first World Cup semi-final since 1966. Portugal lost the semi-final 1–0 against France, and were then defeated 3–1 by the tournament hosts, Germany, in the third-place play-off match.
2006–2014: Post-golden generation and mixed results For Euro 2008 Portugal finished second in qualification behind Poland, and won their first two group games against Turkey and the Czech Republic, although a loss to co-hosts Switzerland set up a quarter-final matchup with Germany which the team lost 3–2. After the tournament, Scolari left to take over at Chelsea. Afterwards, Carlos Queiroz was appointed as the head coach of the Portugal national team.
Portugal came second in the qualifying stages for the 2010 FIFA World Cup under Queiroz, then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in a play-off, thereby reaching every tournament in the decade. A 19-match undefeated streak, in which the team conceded only three goals, ended with a loss to eventual champions Spain in the round of 16, 1–0."World Cup 2010: David Villa raises the roof as Spain push past Portugal" . The Guardian (London). Retrieved 28 May 2014 Queiroz was later criticised for setting up his team in an overly cautious way. After the World Cup, squad regulars Simão Sabrosa, Paulo Ferreira, Miguel Monteiro and Tiago Mendes all retired from international football. Queiroz was banned from coaching the national team for one month after he tried to block a doping test to the team while preparing for the World Cup, as well as directing insulting words to the testers. In consequence, he received a further six-month suspension. Several media outbursts from Queiroz against the heads of the Portuguese Football Federation followed, which partly prompted his dismissal. Paulo Bento was appointed as his replacement at head coach.