The first successful manager with Portugal was a Brazilian, Otto Glória. After making himself known on the bench of Benfica in particular, he took the reins of the selection in 1964. In two years he won fifteen of the twenty matches in which he participated. Led by a Eusébio at their peak, the Selecção das Quinas qualified for the World Cup for the first time and finished in 3rd place in the tournament. As he leaves his post after the competition, the selection regains anonymity.
More recently, another Brazilian shines at the head of the selection: Luiz Felipe Scolari was named in 2003, all proud of the title of world champion which he won with the Brazilian selection the previous year, with the objective of leading the Portuguese selection as much as possible during Euro 2004, played at home. Brilliant, the Portuguese reached the final for the first time but lost to Greece,[1] the surprise team of the tournament. Two years later, Portugal presents itself as an expected outsider. He reached the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, narrowly lost to France. This is the peak of the mandate Scolari, who leaves the selection after the elimination against a fresher and dashing Germany in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.
Appointed in 2014, Fernando Santos will remain at the head of the Portuguese selection for eight years. He will bring Portugal the first two major titles in its history with the Euro 2016 and the 2018–19 Nations League.[2] [3] He leaves his post on 15 December 2022. On 9 January 2023, the Spaniard Roberto Martínez was appointed coach,[4] he was the first Seleção coach to have a nationality other than Portuguese and Brazilian.[5]
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.
| Manager | From | To | Tournaments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committee | 18 December 1921 | 16 December 1923 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | rowspan="23" style="text-align: left;" | ||
| Ribeiro dos Reis | 15 May 1925 | 18 April 1926 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Cândido de Oliveira | 26 December 1926 | 24 March 1929 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Maia Loureiro | 1 December 1929 | 1 December 1929 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Laurindo Grijó | 12 January 1930 | 30 November 1930 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Tavares da Silva (1) | 12 April 1931 | 31 May 1931 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Salvador do Carmo (1) | 3 May 1932 | 2 April 1933 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Ribeiro dos Reis (2) | 11 February 1934 | 18 March 1934 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Cândido de Oliveira (2) | 5 May 1935 | 11 March 1945 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | |||
| Tavares da Silva (2) | 6 May 1945 | 25 May 1947 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | |||
| Virgílio Paula | 23 November 1947 | 23 May 1948 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Armando Sampaio | 27 February 1947 | 22 May 1949 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Salvador do Carmo (2) | 2 April 1950 | 21 May 1950 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Tavares da Silva (3) | 8 April 1951 | 17 June 1951 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Cândido de Oliveira (3) | 20 April 1952 | 14 December 1952 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Salvador do Carmo (3) | 26 September 1953 | 28 November 1954 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Fernando Vaz | 19 December 1954 | 2 May 1955 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Tavares da Silva (4) | 4 May 1955 | 16 June 1957 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 8 | |||
| José Maria Antunes (1) | 22 December 1957 | 22 May 1960 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | |||
| Armando Ferreira (1) | 19 March 1961 | 4 June 1961 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Fernando Peyroteo | 8 October 1961 | 25 October 1961 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Armando Ferreira (2) | 6 May 1962 | 17 May 1962 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| José Maria Antunes (2) | 7 November 1962 | 7 June 1964 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |||
| Otto Glória (1) |  | 15 November 1964 | 13 November 1966 | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 1966 FIFA World Cup – Third place | |
| José Gomes da Silva (1) | 27 March 1967 | 17 December 1967 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | rowspan="9" style="text-align: left;" | ||
| José Maria Antunes (3) | 30 June 1968 | 10 December 1969 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| José Gomes da Silva (2) | 10 May 1970 | 21 November 1971 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |||
| José Augusto | 29 March 1972 | 14 November 1973 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | |||
| José Maria Pedroto | 3 April 1974 | 22 December 1976 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | |||
| Júlio Cernadas Pereira (1) | 30 March 1977 | 8 March 1978 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mário Wilson | 20 September 1978 | 26 March 1980 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Júlio Cernadas Pereira (2) | 24 September 1980 | 5 May 1982 | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | |||
| Otto Glória (2) | | 22 September 1982 | 8 June 1983 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Fernando Cabrita | 21 September 1983 | 23 June 1984 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1984 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finals | ||
| José Augusto Torres | 6 September 1984 | 11 June 1986 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 1986 FIFA World Cup – Group stage | ||
| Ruy Seabra | 12 October 1986 | 29 March 1987 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | rowspan="5" style="text-align: left;" | ||
| Júlio Cernadas Pereira (3) | 23 September 1987 | 26 April 1989 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Artur Jorge (1) | 1 June 1989 | 1 June 1990 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Carlos Queiroz (1) | 1 August 1990 | 9 December 1993 | 31 | 14 | 11 | 6 | |||
| Nelo Vingada | 14 December 1993 | 30 June 1994 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| António Oliveira (1) | 1 July 1994 | 31 July 1996 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 1996 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finals | ||
| Artur Jorge (2) | 1 August 1996 | 30 November 1997 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | style="text-align: left;" | ||
| Humberto Coelho | 15 December 1997 | 31 July 2000 | 24 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 2000 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finals | ||
| António Oliveira (2) | 1 August 2000 | 31 July 2002 | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 2002 FIFA World Cup – Group stage | ||
| Agostinho Oliveira (caretaker) | 22 August 2002 | 10 January 2003 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | style="text-align: left;" | ||
| Luiz Felipe Scolari | | 11 January 2003 | 19 June 2008 | 74 | 42 | 18 | 14 | 2004 UEFA European Championship – Runner-up 2006 FIFA World Cup – Fourth place 2008 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finals | |
| Carlos Queiroz (2) | 11 July 2008 | 9 September 2010 | 28 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2010 FIFA World Cup – Round of 16 | ||
| Paulo Bento | 21 September 2010 | 11 September 2014 | 47 | 26 | 12 | 9 | 2012 UEFA European Championship – Semi-finals 2014 FIFA World Cup – Group stage | ||
| Fernando Santos | 23 September 2014 | 15 December 2022 | 109 | 67 | 23 | 19 | 2016 UEFA European Championship – Champions 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup – Third place 2018 FIFA World Cup – Round of 16 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals – Champions 2020 UEFA European Championship – Round of 16 2022 FIFA World Cup – Quarter-finals | ||
| Roberto Martínez |  | 9 January 2023 | Present | 18 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 2024 UEFA European Championship – Quarter-finals |