Although the Portuguese national football team was not without stars, it was unable to go far in the World Cup tournaments, and the most it reached was third place in the 1966 edition in its first participation.

Portugal did not benefit from the stardom of one of the best football legends throughout history, the brown leopard Eusebio, who retired in 1980, while the sun of its current star, Cristiano Ronaldo, is about to fade, without achieving the dream of crowning the World Cup.

Founding of the Portuguese Football Federation

The Portuguese Football Federation was founded on August 26, 1914, joined the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) in May 1923, and then obtained membership in the European Football Association (UEFA) in 1954.

Fernando Gomes has chaired the Portuguese Football Federation Board of Directors since 10 December 2011.

The Portuguese national team played its first international match, in a friendly match against its Spanish neighbor (the Iberia derby) on December 18, 1921, and lost it 1-3 in Madrid.


The most prominent players in the history of the Portuguese national team

Even before the era of Ronaldo, Eusebio was the greatest star in the history of Portugal, but Cristiano, with his numbers and achievements, has become the best who defended the colors of "Brazil of Europe", as he is his historical scorer (117 goals) and more than he represented (189 games).

In addition, the Portuguese owe a lot of credit to Ronaldo for crowning the first title in their history, when they won the 2016 European Nations Cup, followed by winning the Nations League in 2019.

In addition to Eusebio and Ronaldo, Portugal gave birth to other stars who enjoyed the world, whether with the national team or their clubs, such as Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Nuno Gomes, Pauleta, Luis Nani, Joao Moutinho, Fernando Cotto, Ricardo Quaresma and many others.

Portugal national football team continental posts

The Portuguese national team recorded its presence in only 7 out of 16 editions of the European Nations Cup, which was launched for the first time in 1960.

And “Brazil of Europe” waited until the seventh edition for the first participation, specifically in France in 1984, and then they missed again 12 years, before returning at Euro 1996 in England.

Since that edition, the Portuguese have become permanent guests of the European Nations Cup, until they crowned their only title in the 2016 edition of France.

As for the European Nations League, Cristiano Ronaldo's companions succeeded in winning the first season of the tournament, which started in 2018-2019, but Portugal did not go beyond the group stage in the second and third editions of the tournament.

Portugal's World Cup participation

The Portuguese national team has participated in the World Cup finals 7 times, and is preparing for its eighth appearance in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Portugal's participation in the World Cup began in 1966 in England, in which the "Brazil of Europe" team achieved its best ever by finishing third.

In the rest of the participation, the Portuguese team was eliminated from the first round on 3 occasions, and from the final price twice, while it finished fourth in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

With regard to the FIFA Confederations Cup, Portugal represented the old continent in the tournament that was held in Russia in 2017, which is its only appearance in the tournament.

In that edition, Portugal reached the semi-finals, losing to Chile on penalties, but compensated for that by placing third after defeating Mexico in the ranking match.

Portugal matches in the 2022 World Cup

The Portuguese national team was forced to play two European play-offs in order to catch up with the qualified teams for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which it succeeded in with victories over Turkey and North Macedonia.

Portugal was drawn into Group H, and it will open its matches against Ghana on November 24, 2022 at Stadium 974, before meeting Uruguay on November 28 at Lusail Stadium.

The "Brazil of Europe" team will conclude its matches in the first round by playing against South Korea, on December 2, 2022 at the Education City Stadium.

Shortly before the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the players of the Portuguese national team, led by star Cristiano Ronaldo, were subjected to a lot of criticism in the Portuguese press due to their low level, especially after the loss at home against Spain in the European Nations League.

Nevertheless, the Portuguese national team is still able to present a great version in the World Cup in Qatar, with Ronaldo, who is accustomed to this kind of pressure, along with his colleagues Bruno Fernandez, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo.

Portugal national team coach

Fernando Santos took over the job of coaching the Portugal national team on September 23, 2014, succeeding his compatriot Paulo Bento, who resigned after a surprise loss to Albania in the qualifying round for the European Nations Cup (Euro 2016).

Santos has been coach of the Portugal national team since 2014 (Getty Images)

Santos managed to lead Portugal to its first title in its history, by defeating France, the host country of Euro 2016.

The 67-year-old also gave his country a new title, the European Nations League in its first edition, the 2018-2019 season, but was excluded from the next two editions of the group stage.

Portugal also called out with Santos the Euro 2020 championship from the final price against Belgium, which also happened against Uruguay in the same stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

In total, Santos led the Portuguese national team in 103 matches, winning 64 of them, drawing 21 times, and losing 18 matches.