Portugal national under 21 football team

The Portugal national under 21 football team is a Portugal under 21 football national team controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation. Nicknamed as “Esperancas”, meaning hope, the team is expected of high hope of Portugal for the future. The head coach of this team is Rui Jorge and the captain of the team is Rui Fonte. This team was formed post the realignment of UEFA’s youth competitions in 1976. Till 1994, this team had a poor record, failing to qualify for the first eight UEFA under 21 championships. But post 1994, the team improved its record, qualifying for five of the next season matches, including the 2006 finals.

In 2006, after being qualified for the tournament finals, UEFA announced that Portugal host the finals in the months of May and June and so 2007 onwards, the host nations are announced before a qualification stage and will also not need to qualify.

Since the under 21 competition rules insisted that players have to be 21 or under at the start of a two year match, it is technically an under 23 event. The team was the runner up team in 1994 UEFA European under 21 football championships and came in third place in 2004.