Portugal national under-20 football team

The Portugal national under-20 football team is the national under-20 football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal.

Portugal Under-20

Association	Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Oceano Cruz
Captain	Diogo Prioste
Most caps	Tiago Ferreira (28)
Top scorer	Nuno Gomes Lourenço Nélson Oliveira (9 goals each)
FIFA code	POR
First colours Second colours
First international
Spain 1–0 Portugal  (Cáceres, Spain; 7 May 1979)
Biggest win
Macau 0–6 Portugal  (São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe; 5 October 2006)  São Tomé and Príncipe 0–6 Portugal  (Macau; 5 October 2006)
Biggest defeat
Japan 4–1 Portugal  (Tokyo, Japan; 26 August 1994)
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances	12 (first in 1979)
Best result	Champions (1989, 1991)

The U20 team acts mainly as a feeder team for the under-21s and provides further international development for youth players. The team qualified for its only official match, FIFA U-20 World Cup, depends on U19 results.

The Portuguese team has 12 participations in the FIFA U-20 World Cup and 12 in the Toulon Tournament.

History

The Golden Generation (1989–1991)

The Golden Generation was the Generation of the players that won consecutive FIFA Youth Championships in 1989 and 1991.

The Silver Generation (2011)

The Courage Generation was the Generation of players that was runner up in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Competitive record

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1977	Did not enter
1979	Quarter-finals	4	1	1	2	2	4
1981	Did not qualify
1983
1985
1987
1989	Champions	6	5	0	1	6	3
1991		6	5	1	0	9	1
1993	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	5
1995	Third place	6	5	0	1	12	6
1997	Did not qualify
1999	Round of 16	4	1	2	1	5	4
2001	Did not qualify
2003
2005
2007	Round of 16	4	1	0	3	4	5
2009	Did not qualify
2011	Runners-up	7	4	2	1	7	3
2013	Round of 16	4	2	1	1	12	7
2015	Quarter-finals	5	4	1	0	12	2
2017		5	2	2	1	9	7
2019	Group stage	3	1	1	1	2	3
2023	Did not qualify
2025
Total	12/24	57	31	11	15	81	50

Honours

Team

• FIFA U-20 World Cup
  • Winner (2): 1989, 1991
  • Runner-up (1): 2011
  • Third place (1): 1995
• Toulon Tournament
  • Winner (3): 1992, 2001, 2003
  • Runner-up (4): 1994, 1997, 2000, 2005
  • Third place (4): 1998, 2006, 2014, 2016
• Torneio Internacional da Madeira
  • Winner (7): 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008
  • Runner-up (4): 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006
• Torneio Campos Verdes
  • Winner (2): 2007, 2008
• Copa El Presidente de La Republica - Ricardo Martinelli
  • Third place (1): 2011
• SBS Cup International Youth Soccer
  • Runner-up (1): 2012
• Elite League U20
  • Runner-up (1): 2018-19

Individual awards

• FIFA U-20 World Cup

Year Golden Ball Silver Ball Bronze Ball 1991 Emílio Peixe Paulo Torres 1995 Dani 2011 Nélson Oliveira

Year Golden Shoe Silver Shoe Bronze Show 1995 Dani 2013 Bruma

Year Golden glove 2011 Mika

• Toulon Tournament^[1]

Year Top scorer 1996 Nuno Gomes 1997 Carlitos 2001 Lourenço 2003 2005 Ricardo Vaz Tê

Year Most Elegant Player 1997 Edgar Pacheco 2000 Ednilson 2001 Ricardo Costa 2004 Raul Meireles 2005 Organista 2007 Bruno Gama

Year Best Goalkeeper 1997 Nuno Santos 1998 2000 Sérgio Leite 2003 Bruno Vale 2016 Joel Pereira

Year Revelation 2014 Ricardo Horta

Players

Current squad

• The following players were called up for the matches in March 2025.^[2]
• Match dates: 21 and 24 March 2025
• Opposition: England and Germany
• Caps and goals correct as of: 18 November 2024, after the match against the Czech Republic

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Diogo Fernandes	(2005-02-17) 17 February 2005 (age 20)	4	0	Porto
	1GK	Francisco Silva	(2005-11-20) 20 November 2005 (age 19)	3	0	Sporting CP
	2DF	Leandro Santos	(2005-09-28) 28 September 2005 (age 19)	4	0	Benfica
	2DF	Rodrigo Dias	(2005-07-12) 12 July 2005 (age 20)	2	0	Sporting CP
	2DF	Luís Gomes	(2005-04-13) 13 April 2005 (age 20)	2	0	Porto
	2DF	Rodrigo Mendes	(2005-04-02) 2 April 2005 (age 20)	1	0	Torino
	2DF	Leandro Martins	(2006-01-01) 1 January 2006 (age 19)	0	0	Benfica
	2DF	Diogo Monteiro	(2005-01-28) 28 January 2005 (age 20)	0	0	Leeds United
	2DF	José Sampaio	(2005-01-04) 4 January 2005 (age 20)	0	0	Vizela
	2DF	José Silva	(2005-08-20) 20 August 2005 (age 20)	0	0	Sporting CP
	3MF	Manuel Mendonça	(2005-03-24) 24 March 2005 (age 20)	6	1	Sporting CP
	3MF	Diego Rodrigues	(2005-05-24) 24 May 2005 (age 20)	5	0	Braga
	3MF	João Teixeira	(2006-04-09) 9 April 2006 (age 19)	4	1	Porto
	3MF	Henrique Arreiol	(2005-06-21) 21 June 2005 (age 20)	4	0	Sporting CP
	3MF	João Rego	(2005-06-20) 20 June 2005 (age 20)	4	0	Benfica
	4FW	Rodrigo Ribeiro	(2005-04-28) 28 April 2005 (age 20)	8	1	AVS
	4FW	Tiago Andrade	(2005-10-21) 21 October 2005 (age 19)	6	3	Porto
	4FW	Gustavo Varela	(2005-01-30) 30 January 2005 (age 20)	5	1	Benfica
	4FW	Afonso Moreira	(2005-03-19) 19 March 2005 (age 20)	2	1	Sporting CP
	4FW	Mauro Couto	(2005-11-15) 15 November 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Sporting CP
	4FW	Vivaldo Semedo	(2005-01-28) 28 January 2005 (age 20)	2	0	Vizela

Recent call-ups

The following players have previously been called up to the Portugal under-20 squad in the last twelve months and remain eligible for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up

Previous squads

FIFA U-20 World Cup

• 1979 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1993 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1995 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal
• 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup squads - Portugal

Toulon Tournament

• 2007 Toulon Tournament squads - Portugal
• 2011 Toulon Tournament squads - Portugal

Most appearances

#	Name	Caps	Goals	First cap	Latest cap
1	Tiago Ferreira	28	2	July 13, 2011	July 3, 2013
2	Paulo Costa	20	5	September 10, 1998	June 3, 2000
	Sérgio Oliveira	20	3	October 7, 2010	April 18, 2012
4	Ricardo Esteves	19	0	September 10, 1998	June 3, 2000
	Danilo Pereira	19	3	October 7, 2010	August 21, 2011
	Pelé	19	3	October 7, 2010	August 21, 2011
	Nuno Reis	19	0	October 7, 2010	August 21, 2011
	Nélson Oliveira	19	9	October 7, 2010	August 21, 2011

Most goals

#	Name	Goals	Caps	First cap	Latest cap
1	Nuno Gomes	9	13	June 2, 1995	January 21, 1997
	Lourenço	9	17	22 February 2001	June 21, 2003
	Nélson Oliveira	9	19	October 7, 2010	August 21, 2011
4	André Silva	8	10	November 17, 2014	June 14, 2015
5	Bruma	6	6	March 24, 2013	July 3, 2013
	Carlitos	6	11	May 27, 1997	May 19, 1998
	Paulo Torres	6	12	December 18, 1990	June 30, 1991
	Bruno Gama	6	14	November 21, 2006	July 8, 2007
	Dani	6	15	August 26, 1994	June 1, 1996
6	Ricardo Vaz Tê	5	8	February 16, 2005	September 22, 2005

Notable players

• Luís Figo
• Rui Costa
• Fernando Couto
• Jorge Costa
• João Vieira Pinto
• Paulo Alves
• Paulo Sousa
• Nuno Capucho
• Rui Bento
• Emílio Peixe
• Abel Xavier
• Cristiano Ronaldo

Head coaches

As of 2022

Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Peres Bandeira	1979
Carlos Queiroz	1989–1991
Agostinho Oliveira	1993
Nelo Vingada	1994–1995
Jesualdo Ferreira	1996–2000
António Violante	2001–2002 2008–2009
Rui Caçador	2003–2004 2007–2008
José Couceiro	2006–2007	21	13	4	4	37	8	+29
Paulo Alves	2009–2010	5	3	1	1	9	3	+6
Oceano Cruz	2010
Ilídio Vale	2010–2012	24	9	12	3	27	20	+7
Edgar Borges	2012–2014 2015–2016	29	5	3	3	17	12	+5
Hélio Sousa	2014–2015 2018–2019	24	16	3	5	46	22	+24
Emílio Peixe	2016–2017 2021–2022	19	6	8	5	33	29	+4
José Guilherme	2017–2018	7	2	1	4	7	12	-5
Filipe Ramos	2019–2020	6	1	2	3	7	13	-6
Rui Bento	2020–2021