Portugal national under-21 football team

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.
• 2009: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group.

Current Squad

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

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Rui Patrício	(1988-02-15) February 15, 1988	0	0	Sporting CP
	1GK	Ricardo Batista	(1986-11-19) November 19, 1986	15	0	Sporting CP
	2DF	Gonçalo Brandão	(1986-10-09) October 9, 1986	8	0	Belenenses
	2DF	Henrique Sereno*	(1985-05-18) May 18, 1985	0	0	Vitória Guimarães
	2DF	João Pereira*	(1984-02-25) February 25, 1984	25	0	Braga
	2DF	Manuel da Costa	(1986-05-06) May 6, 1986	14	0	Fiorentina
	2DF	Nuno André Coelho	(1986-01-07) January 7, 1986	21	0	Portimonense
	2DF	Tiago Gomes	(1986-07-29) July 29, 1986	13	0	Benfica
	2DF	Yago	(1987-02-04) February 4, 1987	2	0	Espanyol B
	2DF	Vitorino Antunes	(1987-04-01) April 1, 1987	21	0	Roma
	3MF	Amaury Bischoff	(1987-03-31) March 31, 1987	0	0	unattached
	3MF	Miguel Lopes	(1986-12-19) December 19, 1986	1	0	Rio Ave
	3MF	Manuel Fernandes	(1986-02-05) February 5, 1986	25	0	Valencia
	3MF	Nuno Coelho	(1987-11-23) November 23, 1987	16	0	Portimonense
	3MF	Paulo Machado	(1986-03-31) March 31, 1986	27	0	Saint-Étienne
	3MF	Ruben Amorim*	(1985-01-27) January 27, 1985	23	0	Benfica
	3MF	Pelé	(1987-09-14) September 14, 1987	20	0	Porto
	4FW	Vieirinha	(1986-01-24) January 24, 1986	25	0	PAOK
	4FW	Edinho*	(1982-07-07) July 7, 1982	0	0	AEK Athens
	4FW	Bruno Gama	(1987-11-15) November 15, 1987	15	0	Vitória de Setúbal
	4FW	Carlos Saleiro	(1986-02-25) February 25, 1986	7	0	Sporting CP
	4FW	Hélder Barbosa	(1987-05-25) May 25, 1987	10	0	Porto
	4FW	João Moreira	(1986-02-07) February 7, 1986	29	0	Valencia
	4FW	Ricardo Vaz Tê	(1986-10-01) October 1, 1986	4	1	Bolton Wanderers
	4FW	Yannick Djaló	(1986-05-05) May 5, 1986	19	0	Sporting CP

^{* = 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

Sources/External links

• UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
• Template:Pt icon Official site