| Portugal Under-21 | |
| Nickname: | Esperanças (Hopes) |
| Association: | Federação Portuguesa de Futebol |
| Coach: | Rui Jorge |
| Captain: | Henrique Araújo |
| Most Caps: | Manuel Fernandes (30) |
| Top Scorer: | Hugo Almeida (16) |
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| First Game: | 3–1 (Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958) |
| Largest Win: | 11–0 (Vizela, Portugal; 7 October 2021) |
| Largest Loss: | 6–0 Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987 |
| Uefau21champ Apps: | 10 |
| Uefau21champ First: | 1994 |
| Uefau21champ Best: | 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.
| Year | Round | Position | Games | Won | Drawn | Lost | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
| width = 6% | Rank | width = 27% | Player | width = 50% | Club(s) | width = 16% | Year(s) | width = 11% | U-21 Caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manuel Fernandes | Benfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia | 2004–2008 | 30 | |||||
| 2 | João Pereira | Benfica, Gil Vicente, Braga | 2004–2008 | 28 | |||||
| Ricardo Quaresma | Sporting CP, Barcelona, Porto | 2002–2006 | |||||||
| Silvestre Varela | Sporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal | 2004–2007 | |||||||
| 5 | Fernando Brassard | Marítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães | 1991–1994 | 27 | |||||
| Hugo Almeida | Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen | 2002–2007 | |||||||
| 7 | Ednilson | Roma, Benfica | 2000–2003 | 26 | |||||
| Raul Meireles | Aves, Boavista, Porto | 2003–2006 | |||||||
| 9 | Cândido Costa | 2000–2004 | 25 | ||||||
| Fábio Vieira | 2019–2023 |
| width = 6% | Rank | width = 27% | Player | width = 47% | Club(s) | width = 16% | Year(s) | width = 11% | U-21 Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hugo Almeida | Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen | 2002–2007 | 16 | |||||
| 2 | Fábio Vieira | Porto, Arsenal | 2019–2023 | 14 | |||||
| Gonçalo Ramos | Benfica | 2020–2022 | |||||||
| 4 | Fábio Silva | Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers | 2021– | 12 | |||||
| Hélder Postiga | Porto, Tottenham | 2001–2003 | |||||||
| Toni | Porto, Braga | 1992–1994 | |||||||
| 7 | Henrique Araújo | Benfica, Watford, Famalicão | 2021– | 9 | |||||
| 8 | Diogo Gonçalves | Benfica, Nottingham Forest | 2017–2018 | 8 | |||||
| Diogo Jota | Paços Ferreira, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2015–2018 | |||||||
| Paulo Costa | Alverca, Inter Milan, Reggina, Porto | 2000–2002 | |||||||
| Rui Fonte | Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol | 2008–2012 | |||||||
| Simão Sabrosa | Sporting CP, Barcelona | 1998–2001 |
Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.
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 Faroe Islands and Croatia on 21 and 26 March 2024, respectively.[3]
Caps and goals correct as of: 26 March 2024, after the match against
The following players have previously been called up to the under-21 squad and remain eligible for selection.
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
PRE Preliminary squad.
OTH Player withdrew from the squad due to other reasons.
| Manager | Period | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| José Alberto Costa | –1993 | ||||||||
| Nelo Vingada | 1994–1996 | ||||||||
| Jesualdo Ferreira | 1996–2000 | ||||||||
| Agostinho Oliveira | 2000–2002 | ||||||||
| Rui Caçador | 2002 | ||||||||
| José Romão | 2002–2004 | ||||||||
| Rui Caçador | 2004 | ||||||||
| Agostinho Oliveira | 2004–2006 | ||||||||
| José Couceiro | 2006–2007 | ||||||||
| Rui Caçador | 2007–2009 | ||||||||
| Oceano Cruz | 2009–2010 | ||||||||
| Rui Jorge | 2010–presentHonours
See alsoExternal links
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