Portugal national under-21 football team

The Portugal national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Portugal. It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). They are nicknamed "Esperanças," which means hope, as they are Portugal's hopes for the future.

Portugal Under-21

Nickname(s)	Esperanças (Hopes)
Association	Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Head coach	Rui Jorge
Captain	Diogo Queirós
Most caps	Manuel Fernandes (30)
Top scorer	Hugo Almeida (16)
First colours Second colours
First international
Portugal 3–1 South Africa (Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958)
Biggest win
Liechtenstein 0–9 Portugal (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 11 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
Italy 6–0 Portugal Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	8 (first in 1994)
Best result	Runners-up in 1994, 2015

Competitive record

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Year	Round	Position	Games	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
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	Qualified
Total	Runners-up	8/20	29	13	7	10	41	30

*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 in Portugal"

Player records

Top appearances

As of 9 September 2008

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Manuel Fernandes	Benfica, Portsmouth, Everton, Valencia	2004–2008	30
2	Silvestre Varela	Sporting CP, Casa Pia, Vitória Setúbal	2004–2007	28
	Ricardo Quaresma	Sporting CP, Barcelona, Porto	2002–2006	28
	João Pereira	Benfica, Gil Vicente, Braga	2004–2008	28
	Fernando Brassard	Marítimo, Gil Vicente, Vitória Guimarães	1991–1994	28
6	Hugo Almeida	Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen	2002–2007	27
7	Ednilson	Roma, Benfica	2000–2003	26
	Raul Meireles	Aves, Boavista, Porto	2003–2006	26
9	Edgar	Alverca, Real Madrid, Málaga	1997–1999	25
	Cândido Costa	Porto, Vitória Setúbal, Derby County	2000–2004	25

Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers

As of 30 June 2015

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Goals
1	Hugo Almeida	Porto, União Leiria, Boavista, Werder Bremen	2002–2007	16
2	Hélder Postiga	Porto, Tottenham	2001–2003	12
	Toni	Porto, Braga	1992–1994	12
4	Paulo Costa	Alverca, Inter Milan, Reggina, Porto	2000–2002	9
5	Simão Sabrosa	Sporting CP, Barcelona	1998–2001	8
	Rui Fonte	Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Sporting CP, Vitória Setúbal, Espanyol	2008–2012	8
7	Orlando Sá	Braga, Porto	2008–2010	7
	Miguel Bruno	Feirense, Paços Ferreira, Beira-Mar	1992–1994	7
	Dani	Sporting CP, West Ham United, Ajax	1995–1996	7
	Ivan Cavaleiro	Benfica, Deportivo La Coruña	2013–2015	7

Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Head coaches

As of 14 November 2017

Manager	Period	Record
		G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
José Alberto Costa	–1993	12	8	1	3	22	10	+12	066.67
Nelo Vingada	1994–1996	22	14	5	3	33	14	+19	063.64
Jesualdo Ferreira	1996–2000	33	19	5	9	64	36	+28	057.58
Agostinho Oliveira	2000–2002	22	11	4	7	39	21	+18	050.00
Rui Caçador	2002	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	066.67
José Romão	2002–2004	18	12	2	4	44	27	+17	066.67
Rui Caçador	2004	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
Agostinho Oliveira	2004–2006	18	14	1	3	36	9	+27	077.78
José Couceiro	2006–2007	13	7	3	3	22	9	+13	053.85
Rui Caçador	2007–2009	27	15	4	8	54	22	+32	055.56
Oceano Cruz	2009–2010	12	6	2	4	17	12	+5	050.00
Rui Jorge	2010–present	69	47	14	8	154	54	+100	068.12

Source:

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Honours

• UEFA Under-21 European Championship: 2015 (runner-up)

Other websites

• Official site (in Portuguese)
• UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.