Portugal national football team

The Portugal national football team is the national football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF).

Portugal have qualified four times for the FIFA World Cup, but have neither won it nor any other major tournament. Their first World Cup appearance was in 1966, where the Portuguese reached their first semi final. In that year they lost only to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.

In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of (The European Championships), where they lost to Greece, and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to France. The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio's 1966 third place finish as they lost to Germany 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart, settling for fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1934	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1950	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1954	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1962	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1966	Semifinals (Third Place)	3	6	5	0	1	17	8	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1970	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1986	Round 1	17	3	1	0	2	2	4	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1994	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	2002	Round 1	21	3	1	0	2	6	4	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	2006	Semifinals (Fourth Place)	4	7	4	1	2	7	5	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	Total	Four appearances		19	11	1	7	32	21

European Championship record

Year	Round	Position	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1960	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1964	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1968	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1972	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1976	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1980	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1984	Semifinals	4	4	1	2	1	4	4	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	1996	Quarter-finals	5	4	2	1	1	5	2	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	2000	Semifinals	3	5	4	0	1	10	4	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	2004	Final	Runners-up	6	3	1	2	8	6	bgcolor=#f5f5dc	Total	4/12	0/12	19	10	4	5	27	16

Famous players

Early stars

1966 World Cup Glory "Os Magriços"

1970s Generation

Euro 1984 and World Cup 86

Other Figures

Golden Generation

Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 - "Os Conquistadores"

Most appearances

Name	Games	Goals	First game	Last game
Luís Figo	120	32	12-10-1991	03-06-2006
Fernando Couto	110	8	19-12-1990	30-06-2004
Rui Costa	94	26	31-03-1993	04-07-2004
Pauleta	82	46	20-08-1997	03-06-2006
João Vieira Pinto	81	23	12-10-1991	14-06-2002
Vítor Baía	80		19-12-1990	07-09-2002
João Pinto	70	1	16-02-1983	09-11-1996
Nené	66	22	21-04-1971	23-06-1984
Eusébio	64	41	08-10-1961	13-10-1973
Humberto Coelho	64	6	27-10-1968	27-04-1983

2006 World Cup

The Portuguese squad qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and came in first place in Group D with victories over Angola (1-0, goal from Pauleta), Iran (2-0, goals from Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo) and Mexico (2-1, goals from Maniche and Simão).

Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the Round of 16 on Sunday, June 25 in Nuremberg. The goal came courtesy of a Maniche strike in an acrimonious match marked with a total of 4 red cards and 16 yellow cards. On Saturday, July 1 at Gelsenkirchen in the quarter-finals, Portugal defeated England on penalty kicks (3-1) after a goal-less 120 minutes.

Portugal were defeated 1-0 by France in the semi-finals on Wednesday, July 5th at Munich, at their first World Cup semi-final since the days of Eusébio, 40 years earlier. The winning goal was scored by Zinedine Zidane's penalty kick. They lost to Germany in the third place match 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart. The team won the Most Entertaining Team award for their play during the 2006 World Cup. The award is always organized through public participation in a poll.

Squad

Head coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari

clubnat=England}} Caneira has spent the run up to the tournament on loan to Sporting

clubnat=England}} clubnat=England}} clubnat=England}} clubnat=England}} Maniche has spent the run up to the tournament on loan to Chelsea

Postiga has spent the run up to the tournament on loan to Saint-Étienne

Bruno Vale was injured in a UEFA U-21 Championship game vs. Serbia & Montenegro on 25 May and replaced by Paulo Santos.

Starting Line-Up and Formation

4-2-3-1 formation

July 8, 2006 vs. Germany

Trivia

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, this team set a record for the number of yellow cards received by a national team in a single world cup: 24 in total.
In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, this team also set a record for the number of consecutive minutes a national team played without scoring a goal in a single world cup: 364.

External links

Footnotes

European national football teams | Football in Portugal

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Portugal national football team