The first successful manager with Portugal was a Brazilian, Otto Glória. After making himself known as manager in the technical area of Benfica in particular, he took on the reins of the portuguese side in 1964. In two years he won a healthy 15 of the 20 matches in which Portugal participated. Led by the great Eusébio at his peak, the Selecção das Quinas qualified for the World Cup for the first time and finished in what is what is still their best feat of 3rd place in the tournament. When Glória left his post after the competition, the selection faded back into obscurity.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was appointed in 2003 after leading Brazil to their 5th and most recent World Cup win in 2002. Under Scolari's leadership, Portugal reached the Euro 2004 final for the first time, where they lost to Greece, the surprise underdog of the tournament. Two years later Portugal reached the semi-finals in the 2006 World Cup in Germany before narrowly losing to France, and were subsequently defeated by Germany, 3-1, in the third place playoff. Scolari announced his departure shortly after another loss to German, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.
Appointed in 2014, Fernando Santos would go on to manage Portugal for eight years. He went on to guide them to a first ever piece of silverware in their history with the Euro 2016 and later backed it up with a 2018–19 Nations League win. He vacated his post on 15 December 2022. Santos had come under fire throughout the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after benching waining starlet Cristiano Ronaldo in the group stages. Going into the tournament Ronaldo was already in hot water after relations broke down with his previous club Manchester United in the Autumn, having controversially spoken out on his frustration with club’s supposed ‘lack of ambition’ before signing for saudi arabian club Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League at the start of November. The publiced spat would have its ripple effects for Portugal at the tournament. Although the group stages started positively with a 3-2 win over Ghana, a in 2-0 win over Uruguay in their 2nd where Ronaldo played all but the last 7 minutes of each. Things would dramatically worsen in a loss in their final group game versus South Korea national football team, where after having already topped the group thanks to Ghana’s win over Uruguay (dramatically knocking the two time winner’s out due to having a superior goal difference in scoring more goals), Santos adheared to his staff’s advice in order to manage their player’s minutes and would sub Ronaldo off after 65 minutes to rest him for the knockouts. The reaction was fierce and he would subsequently launch a verbal tirade at the manager. In the aftermath, Santos went on to strip him of captaincy, promoting Pepe to captain and demoting Ronaldo to the substitutes bench for their round of 16 win over Switzerland where he came on after 75 minutes. In the quarterfinals Portugal was defeated 1-0 by dark-horses Morocco, who had already eliminated Spain national football team on penalties in the round of 16. Ronaldo’s late cameon 15 minutes from time had little to no impact and Morocco would subsequently emulate Portugal’s previous feats in making the semi finals and in doing so being Africa’s first representatives to reach the last 4. The public’s reaction back home was swift and scathing, as both player and manager faced fierce backlash for their display in what many called an avoidable and unnecessary dispute.
On 9 January 2023, spaniard Roberto Martínez was appointed coach, he was the first Seleção coach to have a nationality other than Portuguese or Brazilian. Almost immediately after his appointment, Martínez reinstated Ronaldo as captain.
List The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Portugal manager's results in the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League Finals.
ManagerFromToTournamentsCommittee18 December 192116 December 19233003 rowspan="23" style="text-align: left;" Ribeiro dos Reis15 May 192518 April 19264112Cândido de Oliveira26 December 192624 March 192913445Maia Loureiro1 December 19291 December 19291001Laurindo Grijó12 January 193030 November 19304202Tavares da Silva (1)12 April 193131 May 19312101Salvador do Carmo (1)3 May 19322 April 19333201Ribeiro dos Reis (2)11 February 193418 March 19342002Cândido de Oliveira (2)5 May 193511 March 194515438Tavares da Silva (2)6 May 194525 May 19479414Virgílio Paula23 November 194723 May 19483102Armando Sampaio27 February 194722 May 19494112Salvador do Carmo (2)2 April 195021 May 19504022Tavares da Silva (3)8 April 195117 June 19514013Cândido de Oliveira (3)20 April 195214 December 19523012Salvador do Carmo (3)26 September 195328 November 19545122Fernando Vaz19 December 19542 May 19551001Tavares da Silva (4)4 May 195516 June 195715528José Maria Antunes (1)22 December 195722 May 196012408Armando Ferreira (1)19 March 19614 June 19613111Fernando Peyroteo8 October 196125 October 19612002Armando Ferreira (2)6 May 196217 May 19623003José Maria Antunes (2)7 November 19627 June 196410415Otto Glória (1)15 November 196413 November 19662015231966 FIFA World Cup – Third placeJosé Gomes da Silva (1)27 March 196717 December 19676231 rowspan="9" style="text-align: left;" José Maria Antunes (3)30 June 196810 December 19699135José Gomes da Silva (2)10 May 197021 November 19717313José Augusto29 March 197214 November 197315942José Maria Pedroto3 April 197422 December 197615645Júlio Cernadas Pereira (1)30 March 19778 March 19785311Mário Wilson20 September 197826 March 198010523Júlio Cernadas Pereira (2)24 September 19805 May 198218639Otto Glória (2)22 September 19828 June 19837313Fernando Cabrita21 September 198323 June 198495221984 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finalsJosé Augusto Torres6 September 198411 June 1986178181986 FIFA World Cup – Group stageRuy Seabra12 October 198629 March 19876141 rowspan="5" style="text-align: left;" Júlio Cernadas Pereira (3)23 September 198715 November 198910631Artur Jorge (1)1 January 199030 June 19918431Carlos Queiroz (1)4 September 199117 November 1993211065Nelo Vingada14 December 199330 June 19942020António Oliveira (1)1 July 199431 July 19962213541996 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finalsArtur Jorge (2)1 August 199630 November 199712552 style="text-align: left;" Humberto Coelho15 December 199731 July 20002416442000 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finalsAntónio Oliveira (2)1 August 200031 July 20022213542002 FIFA World Cup – Group stageAgostinho Oliveira (caretaker)22 August 200210 January 20034220 style="text-align: left;" Luiz Felipe Scolari11 January 200319 June 2008744218142004 UEFA European Championship – Runner-up2006 FIFA World Cup – Fourth place2008 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finalsCarlos Queiroz (2)11 July 20089 September 20102815942010 FIFA World Cup – Round of 16Paulo Bento21 September 201011 September 201447261292012 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finals2014 FIFA World Cup – Group stageFernando Santos23 September 201415 December 20221096723192016 UEFA European Championship – Champions2017 FIFA Confederations Cup – Third place2018 FIFA World Cup – Round of 162019 UEFA Nations League Finals – Champions2020 UEFA European Championship – Round of 162022 FIFA World Cup – Quarter-finals Roberto Martínez9 January 20236 July 2026453096 2024 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finals 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals - Champions2026 FIFA World Cup – Round of 16Jorge Jesus10 July 2026PresentTBATBATBATBA TBA
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