Portugal national under-21 football team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. 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 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.
[edit] Competition records
- *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
- **Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won.
- ***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.
[edit] Current squad
Head coach: 
Rui Jorge
[edit] Notable players
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[edit] Head coaches
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Reserve and youth football in Portugal
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| National teams |
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| Nationwide competitions |
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| Regional competitions |
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| Tournaments |
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| Qualification |
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A1 GP · Association football (soccer) ( M, W, M-23, M-21, M-20, M-19, M-18, M-17, M-16, M-15, M-14, M-13, M-12) · Baseball · Basketball ( M, W) · Beach handball · Beach soccer ( M, W) · Cricket ( M, W) · Field hockey ( M, W) · Futsal ( M, W) · Handball ( M, W) · Ice hockey · Korfball · Roller hockey (quad) ( M, W) · Rugby league · Rugby union ( M, W, M7's, W7's) · Tennis ( M, W) · Volleyball ( M, W) · Water polo · Lusophony Games · Paralympic Games · Olympic Games
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Portugal 3 – 1 South Africa 
1994
1996
2002
2004
2007
