Portugal national under-21 football team

European national under-21 football team
Name = Portugal Under-21

Association = Federação Portuguesa
de Futebol
Coach = Rui Caçador
Captain = Bruno Gama
Top scorer = Bruno Gama
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First game = U23: Portugal 1-1 Denmark Lisbon, October 14 1970 U21: Luxembourg 1-2 Portugal Esch-sur-Alzette, November 28 1976
Largest win = Portugal 8-1 Armenia Estoril, August 19 1997
Largest loss = Italy 6-0 Portugal Piacenza, December 2 1987
"Records for competitive matches only."

UEFAu21Champ apps = 4
UEFAu21Champ first = 1994
UEFAu21Champ best = Runners-up in 1994

The Portugal national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation. They are nicknamed as "Esperanças". Esperança means hope, so, they are Portugal's hopes for the future. In sports, "Esperança" comes before "Senior".

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 U-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.

Since the under-21 competition rules insist that players must be 21 or under at the start of a two year competition, technically it is an U-23 competition. For this reason, Portugal's record in the preceding U-23 competitions is also shown.

UEFA U-23 Championship Record

* 1972: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification 'group'.
* 1974: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 2 in qualification 'group'.
* 1976: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

* 1978: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group.
* 1980: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
* 1982: Did not enter.
* 1984: Losing semi-finalists.
* 1986: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
* 1988: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 4 in qualification group.
* 1990: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 4 in qualification group.
* 1992: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 4 in qualification group.
* 1994: Runners-up.
* 1996: Losing quarter-finalists.
* 1998: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 5 in qualification group.
* 2000: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.
* 2002: Finished 3rd of 4 in finals group.
* 2004: Third place.
* 2006: Finished 4th of 4 in finals group. Hosts.
* 2007: Losing in third place match, therefore missing the Olympics.

Current Squad

Squad called up for the mini-tournament in Skåne, Sweden, against Sweden, France and the Netherlands.

caps=0|goals=0|club=Arsenal F.C.|clubnat=ENG^{* = Over age but have been allowed to participate}

Notable Players

*Luís Figo
*Rui Costa
*João Pinto
*Sérgio Conceição
*Fernando Couto
*Vítor Baía
*Jorge Costa
*Nuno Capucho
*Dimas
*Paulinho Santos
*Paulo Alves
*Dani
*Domingos
*Sá Pinto
*Paulo Sousa
*António Folha
*Carlos Secretário
*Emílio Peixe
*Abel Xavier
*Ricardo Quaresma
*Cristiano Ronaldo
*Nani
*Miguel Veloso
*João Moutinho
*Simão

See also

* Portugal national football team
* European Under-21 Football Championship
* Golden Generation

ources/External links

* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under21 UEFA Under-21 website] Contains full results archive
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/europe-u21.html The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation] Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
*pt icon [http://www.fpf.pt Official site]