Portugal national football team

Portugal

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Equipa das Quinas
Association	Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Luiz Felipe Scolari (2003-)
Captain	Jorge Andrade
Most caps	Luís Figo (127)
Top scorer	Pauleta (47)
FIFA code	POR
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	7
Highest	4 (March 2001)
Lowest	43 (August 1998)
First international
Spain 3 - 1 Portugal (Madrid, Spain; 18 November 1921)
Biggest win
Portugal 8 - 0 Liechtenstein (Lisbon, Portugal; 18 November 1994) Portugal 8 - 0 Liechtenstein (Coimbra, Portugal; 9 June 1999) Portugal 8 - 0 Kuwait (Leiria, Portugal; 19 November 2003)
Biggest defeat
Portugal 0 - 10 England (Lisbon, Portugal; 25 May 1947)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1966)
Best result	Third place, 1966
European Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 1984)
Best result	Second place, 2004

The Portugal football team is the national football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Portugal has qualified four times for the FIFA World Cup, but have neither won it nor any other major tournament. Their first World Cup appearance was in 1966, where the Portuguese reached their first semi final. In that year they lost only to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.

In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 (The European Championships), where they lost to Greece, and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to France. The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio's 1966 third place finish as they lost to hosts Germany 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart, finishing in fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.

FIFA World Cup

1966 FIFA World Cup

The team started out with three wins in the group stage where they were in Group C when they beat Hungary, Bulgaria and two-time defending champions Brazil. Secondly they beat surprise quarter-finalist Korea DPR 5-3, with Eusébio getting four markers to overturn a 0-3 deficit. Later, they reached the semifinals where they were beaten by hosts England 2-1. Portugal then defeated USSR 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.

Eusébio played in the 1970 and 1974 World Cup qualifiers but Portugal failed to make the tournament Finals.

1986 FIFA World Cup

In qualification round, Portugal had to win West Germany in Stuttgart in the last qualifying game to be able to go through to the final round. Portugal won 0-1 and become the first team to win West Germany at their home ground in an official match. Portugal was a fan favourite to make a good campaign because of their 1984 Euro Cup. The team exited early in the group stages after a win and two losses. They started with a 1-0 win to England. Later they were beaten by Poland with a score of 1-0 and Morocco with a score of 3-1.

1998 FIFA World Cup

The team almost qualified for the tournament that was to be hosted by France. However, during a qualifier in Germany, Rui Costa was controversially sent off for taking too long to walk off the field. Germany drew the crucial game and was thus able to qualify.[1] This incident is regarded as one of the darkest in Portugal's football history, with FIFA being accused of favouritism in support of Germany, who were the defending Euro 96 champions.

2002 FIFA World Cup

Portugal entered the tournament as favourites to win Group D. However, they were upset 3-2 to USA, at one point being three goals down in the match. They then rebounded with a 4-0 thrashing of Poland, with Pauleta getting a hat trick.

Needing a draw to advance, they lost the final group game to hosts South Korea. Argentinian referee Angel Sanchez sent off João Vieira Pinto for a tackle on Park Ji-Sung. Beto was ejected for his second yellow card of the match, reducing Portugal to nine men, and Park scored the winner to allow the Koreans to advance.[2]

2006 FIFA World Cup

The Portuguese squad, known as the Brazilians of Europe for the magical football they produce, qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany under the leadership of manager Luis Felipe Scolari and came in first place in Group D with victories over Angola (1-0, goal from Pauleta), Iran (2-0, goals from Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo) and Mexico (2-1, goals from Maniche and Simão). Only Mexico's Francisco Fonseca was able to score against Portugal.

Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the Round of 16 on June 25 in Nuremberg in one of the ugliest games in World Cup history. The only goal came courtesy of a Maniche strike in an acrimonious match marked by 16 yellow cards, with 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offense.

On Saturday, July 1 at Gelsenkirchen in the quarter-finals, despite having two starters suspended due to being sent off in the previous match, Portugal defeated England on penalty kicks (3-1) after a goal-less 120 minutes to reach their first World Cup semi-final since the days of Eusébio, 40 years earlier.

Portugal were defeated 1-0 by France in the semi-finals on Wednesday, July 5 at Munich. Two players had been forced to sit out due to accumulated bookings from the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It did not help that the team faced a hostile crowd of English and French fans; as Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of unsportsmanlike behavior. As in the semi-finals of Euro 2000, Portugal was again narrowly defeated by France, with the decisive goal being a penalty scored by Zinedine Zidane after Thierry Henry was awarded a penalty from a foul committed by Ricardo Carvalho. Portugal felt that they themselves should have been awarded a penalty after Cristiano Ronaldo went down in the box. However, a penalty was not awarded by the referee, and was itself a disputed incident where Ronaldo was fortunate not to get booked for diving.

For third place, they faced Germany in the third place match on July 8 in Stuttgart. In this match, like the previous two in which Portugal had a couple of players suspended, the Selecção had lost Miguel to an injury suffered in the semi-final and Ricardo Carvalho to suspension, for accumulated yellow cards against Holland and France. Goalkeeper Ricardo had only conceded one goal in regular play so far (scored by Mexico's Francisco Fonseca, which would later curiously move to Portugal's own SL Benfica). Surprisingly, Figo did not start the match despite having captained the squad in the rest of the tournament. Not unlike the Lusitanians, three of Germany's starters, including captain Michael Ballack, would not be available due to injury. The first half was scoreless but Portugal had several good chances from Pauleta and Deco, forcing Oliver Kahn to make several saves. In the second half, Portugal was thoroughly routed 3-1 as Germany went up three goals to nil from Bastian Schweinsteiger's two goals and an own goal, also off his shot, by Portugal's Petit. Figo replaced Pauleta in the 77th minute, regaining his captaincy during the substitution. Although Germany scored another goal shortly after Figo's entrance, he set up Nuno Gomes's goal in the 88th minute to help Portugal claw back a marker, which was Portugal's second goal of the knockout round and the first since Maniche's against Holland.

Despite this defeat, the Portuguese public hailed their national team as heroes when they returned home. The team won the Most Entertaining Team award for their play during the 2006 World Cup. The award is always organized through public participation in a poll.

Portugal's "Golden Generation" retired after the 2006 World Cup. The departure of Luís Figo has left Portugal's squad with a new look in midfield that was once taken over by himself and the likes of Rui Costa and Sérgio Conceição. The squad attempting to qualify for Euro 2008 will produce a young generation of players from the U-21 squad. Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho, Nani and Manuel Fernandes, and most importantly, Cristiano Ronaldo are some of the names that could possibly bring future success to Portugal.

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	Games	Wins	Draws*	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Semifinals (Third Place)	3	6	5	0	1	17	8
1970	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Round 1	17	3	1	0	2	2	4
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Round 1	21	3	1	0	2	6	4
2006	Semifinals (Fourth Place)	4	7	4	1	2	7	5
Total	4/18	-	19	11	1	7	32	21

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

European Championships

1984 European Championship

This was the first time that Portugal ever entered the European Championship. In the qualifying round, the team almost didn't qualify, but a 1-0 victory over USSR in the last game made it possible. Portugal ended in group B, alongside Spain, West Germany and Romania. In the first two games, they tied 0-0 and 1-1 against West Germany and Spain, respectively. A 1-0 win over Romania gave them the second place in the group, which was enough to went through to the elimination round.

They would play against hosts, France, in one of the most excited matches in Euro Cup history. France scored first, but Portugal tied it almost an hour later. The game ended and the two teams would play in extra time. Portugal made 2-1 in the first half and both teams could have scored more goals. In the second half France scored with six minutes to go and in the last one. Portugal had been eliminated in the semi-finals.

1996 European Championship

In the final tournament, Portugal tied 1-1 with European Champions Denmark, won 1-0 to Turkey and Croatia by 3-0, finishing first in their group. In the quarter-finals they lost 1-0 to losing finalists, Czech Republic.

2000 European Championship

This tournament was the inaugural success of the so-called "Golden Generation", captained by Luís Figo. They defeated England, Romania, and Germany to finish atop their group and then defeated Turkey in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-final meeting with World Cup holders France, Portugal scored first. However, France equalized and Portugal was eliminated in extra time by a golden goal when Zinedine Zidane converted a penalty. Austrian referee Gunter Benko controversially awarded the spot kick for a handball after Abel Xavier blocked a shot from Sylvain Wiltord. (Benko initially gave France a corner but changed his mind after consulting with a Slovak linesman Igor Sramka). Abel Xavier, Nuno Gomes and Paulo Bento were given lengthy suspensions for shoving the referee.[3]

2004 European Championship

This tournament was held in Portugal. Portugal, as the host nation, went all the way through to the final where they were eventually beaten by Greece 1-0 by a goal from Greek striker, Angelos Charisteas. Previously, on the opening match, Greece beat Portugal 2-1. This is the first time in the history of the competition that the final featured the same two teams as the opening match.

2008 European Championship

Group A Standings

Main article: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group A

As of matches completed through June 6, 2007. Template:2008 UEFA Euro qualifying Group A

European Championship Record

Year	Round	Position	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1960	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Semifinals	3–4	4	1	2	1	4	4
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Quarter-finals	5–8	4	2	1	1	5	2
2000	Semifinals	3–4	5	4	0	1	10	4
2004	Final	2	6	3	1	2	8	6
2008	Qualification in progress
Total	4/12	-	19	10	4	5	27	16

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Finland 1-1 Portugal (September 6, 2006, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Portugal 3-0 Azerbaijan (October 7, 2006, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Poland 2-1 Portugal (October 11, 2006, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Portugal 3-0 Kazakhstan (November 15, 2006, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Brazil 0-2 Portugal (February 6, 2007, friendly match)

Portugal 4-0 Belgium (March 24, 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Serbia 1-1 Portugal (March 28, 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Belgium 1-2 Portugal (June 2, 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Al Salmiya Club 1-1 Portugal (June 5, 2007, friendly match)

Armenia - Portugal (August 22, 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Portugal - Poland (September 8, 2007, Euro 2008 qualifying)

Current squad

The following players named for Euro 2008 qualifying match against Belgium and friendly match against Kuwait on June 2 and June 5 2007. [4] [5]

Caps and goals as of June 5, 2007, included against Kuwait.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Ricardo	(1976-02-11) February 11, 1976	65	0	Sporting
2	2DF	Paulo Ferreira	(1979-01-18) January 18, 1979	40	0	Chelsea
4	2DF	Jorge Andrade	(1978-04-09) April 9, 1978	50	3	Deportivo
5	2DF	Fernando Meira	(1978-06-05) June 5, 1978	42	2	Stuttgart
8	3MF	Petit	(1976-09-25) September 25, 1976	50	4	Benfica
10	3MF	Hugo Viana	(1983-01-15) January 15, 1983	26	1	Valencia
12	1GK	Quim	(1975-11-13) November 13, 1975	25	0	Benfica
13	2DF	Miguel	(1980-01-04) January 4, 1980	42	1	Valencia
15	2DF	Vitorino Antunes	(1987-04-01) April 1, 1987	1	0	Paços Ferreira
19	3MF	Tiago	(1981-05-03) May 3, 1981	37	1	Lyon
20	3MF	Deco	(1977-08-27) August 27, 1977	46	3	Barcelona
22	1GK	Daniel Fernandes	(1983-09-21) September 21, 1983	1	0	PAOK
23	4FW	Hélder Postiga	(1982-08-02) August 2, 1982	30	10	Porto
25	3MF	Raúl Meireles	(1983-03-17) March 17, 1983	3	0	Porto
26	4FW	Hugo Almeida	(1984-05-23) May 23, 1984	3	0	Werder Bremen
27	4FW	Ricardo Quaresma	(1983-09-26) September 26, 1983	11	1	Porto
28	3MF	João Moutinho	(1986-09-08) September 8, 1986	8	0	Sporting
30	2DF	Bruno Alves	(1981-11-27) November 27, 1981	1	0	Porto
31	2DF	Bosingwa	(1982-08-24) August 24, 1982	2	0	Porto
32	4FW	Nani	(1986-11-17) November 17, 1986	7	2	Manchester United
33	3MF	Duda	(1980-06-27) June 27, 1980	2	0	Sevilla
36	4FW	João Tomás	(1975-05-27) May 27, 1975	4	1	Al-Arabi

Recent call-up

The following players have all recently been called up to the Portugal squad. Bracket shows last call-up time.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
3	2DF	Marco Caneira (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1979-02-09) February 9, 1979	20	0	Sporting
6	3MF	Costinha (Euro 2008 qual. v. Poland, October 11)	(1974-12-01) December 1, 1974	53	2	Atlético
11	4FW	Simão (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1979-10-31) October 31, 1979	55	13	Benfica
14	2DF	Nuno Valente (Euro 2008 qual. v. Poland, October 11)	(1974-09-12) September 12, 1974	33	1	Everton
15	4FW	Luís Boa Morte (Euro 2008 qual. v. Finland, September 6)	(1977-08-04) August 4, 1977	26	1	West Ham
16	2DF	Ricardo Carvalho (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1978-05-18) May 18, 1978	38	4	Chelsea
17	4FW	Cristiano Ronaldo (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1985-02-05) February 5, 1985	46	17	Manchester Utd
18	3MF	Maniche (Euro 2008 qual. v. Poland, October 11)	(1977-11-11) November 11, 1977	40	6	Atlético
21	4FW	Nuno Gomes (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1976-07-05) July 5, 1976	63	27	Benfica
24	2DF	Ricardo Costa (Euro 2008 qual. v. Finland, September 6)	(1981-05-16) May 16, 1981	6	0	Porto
29	2DF	Zé António (Euro 2008 qual. v. Poland, October 11)	(1977-03-14) March 14, 1977	0	0	Gladbach
30	3MF	Carlos Martins (Euro 2008 qual. v. Kazakhstan, November 15)	(1982-04-29) April 29, 1982	2	0	Sporting
33	2DF	Ricardo Rocha (Euro 2008 qual. v. Poland, October 11)	(1978-10-03) October 3, 1978	6	0	Tottenham
34	2DF	Manuel da Costa (Euro 2008 qual. v. Serbia, March 28)	(1986-05-06) May 6, 1986	0	0	PSV
35	2DF	Nélson (Euro 2008 qual. v. Kazakhstan, November 15)	(1983-06-10) June 10, 1983	0	0	Benfica
36	2DF	Tonel (Euro 2008 qual. v. Kazakhstan, November 15)	(1980-04-13) April 13, 1980	1	0	Sporting

Previous squads

• 2006 FIFA World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2004 European Football Championship squads - Portugal
• 2002 FIFA World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2000 European Football Championship squads - Portugal
• 1996 European Football Championship squads - Portugal
• 1986 FIFA World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1984 European Football Championship squads - Portugal
• 1966 FIFA World Cup squads - Portugal

Players

Famous Players

Early stars Benjamin Gauthier Cândido de Oliveira João Francisco José Manuel Soares Pepe Jorge Vieira João Armando Augusto Silva Pinga António Feliciano Fernando Peyroteo Jesus Correia José Travassos Virgílio Matateu José Águas Costa Pereira Germano 1966 World Cup Glory - "Os Magriços" Eusébio Mário Coluna José Augusto António Simões Torres Jaime Graça Hilário

1970s Generation Humberto Coelho Artur Jorge António Oliveira Artur Correia João Alves Shéu Manuel Fernandes Vítor Damas Euro 1984 and World Cup 86 - "Os Patrícios" Manuel Bento Rui Jordão Fernando Chalana Nené António Sousa Carlos Manuel Jaime Pacheco João Pinto Fernando Gomes Paulo Futre Other Figures Oceano Rui Barros Vítor Paneira

Golden Generation Luís Figo Rui Costa Fernando Couto Vítor Baía Jorge Costa Dimas João Vieira Pinto Domingos Paulo Sousa Sérgio Conceição Abel Xavier Ricardo Sá Pinto Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 - "Os Conquistadores" Nuno Gomes Deco Cristiano Ronaldo Pauleta Ricardo Simão Sabrosa Maniche Costinha Ricardo Carvalho Miguel Tiago Paulo Ferreira Fernando Meira Jorge Andrade

Most appearances

Below is a list of the 12 players with the most appearances for Portugal, as of March 28, 2007 (* denotes players still available for selection):

No	Name	Games	Goals	First game	Last game
1	Luís Figo	127	32	12-10-1991	08-07-2006
2	Fernando Couto	110	8	19-12-1990	30-06-2004
3	Rui Costa	94	26	31-03-1993	04-07-2004
4	Pauleta	88	47	20-08-1997	08-07-2006
5	João Vieira Pinto	81	23	12-10-1991	14-06-2002
6	Vítor Baía	80	0	19-12-1990	07-09-2002
7	João Pinto	70	1	16-02-1983	09-11-1996
8	Nené	66	22	21-04-1971	23-06-1984
9	Ricardo Pereira*	65	0	02-06-2001	02-06-2007
10	Eusébio	64	41	08-10-1961	13-10-1973
=	Humberto Coelho	64	6	27-10-1968	27-04-1983
12	Nuno Gomes*	63	27	24-01-1996	28-03-2007

Most goals

Below is a list of the 12 players with the most goals for Portugal, as of March 28, 2007 (* denotes players still available for selection):

No	Name	Games	Goals	First game	Last game
1	Pauleta	88	47	20-08-1997	08-07-2006
2	Eusébio	64	41	08-10-1961	13-10-1973
3	Luís Figo	127	32	12-10-1991	08-07-2006
4	Nuno Gomes*	63	27	28-01-1996	28-03-2007
5	Rui Costa	94	26	31-03-1993	04-07-2004
6	João Vieira Pinto	81	23	12-10-1991	14-06-2002
7	Nené	66	22	21-04-1971	23-06-1984
8	Cristiano Ronaldo*	46	17	20-08-2003	28-03-2007
9	Rui Jordão	43	15	29-03-1972	25-01-1989
10	Torres	33	14	23-01-1963	13-10-1973
11	Fernando Peyroteo	20	13	24-04-1938	20-03-1949
12	Simão*	55	13	18-11-1998	28-03-2007

Trivia

• This team won the 2006 FIFA World Cup most entertaining team award.
• Pauleta was the lead goal scorer in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
• In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, this team set a record for the number of yellow cards received by a national team in a single world cup: 24 in total. Mainly due to the controversial match against Holland where a double figure amount of cards (yellow and red) were handed out.

External links

• Official website of the Portuguese Football Federation (in Portuguese)
• Portuguese National Football Team Template:Pt icon
• Portugoal.net | |The definitive Portuguese football site (in English)
• Soccerpulse - Portuguese Information and Discussion Forum (in English)
• Portugal on ESPN
• RSSSF archive of results 1921-2003
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1921-
• Portugal National Football Team Players
• Portugal National Team Players (List)
• Reports on Portugal's Matches in the 2006 World Cup
• Daily Portuguese Football news, discussion, stats, images, and more in English
• Daily Portuguese Football News, Live Scores, Standings, Liga de Honra, II Division, Taça de Portugal