The Portugal national football team (Portuguese: Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol

represents Portugal in international men's association football competition since 1921.
It is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal.

Portugal's first participation in a major tournament finals, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, saw a team featuring famed striker Eusébio finish in third place.
The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals were in 1986 and 2002, going out in the first round both times.
Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984 final tournament, losing 3–2 after extra time to the hosts and eventual winners France.
The team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2000, the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012, as well as the final of Euro 2004, the latter on home soil.

At Euro 2016, Portugal won its first ever major trophy, defeating hosts France 1–0 after extra time, with the winning goal scored by Éder.
With the win, Portugal qualified and will make its first appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup held the following year in Russia.

The team's home stadium is the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, although most of their home games are frequently played in other stadia across the country.
The current head coach is Fernando Santos and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who holds the team records for most caps and goals.

Early World Cup attempts

Portugal was not invited to the 1930 World Cup, which only featured a final stage and no qualification round. The team took part in the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification, but failed to eliminate
their Spanish opponents, aggregating two defeats in the two-legged round, with a 9–0 loss in Madrid and 2–1 loss in Lisbon for an aggregate score of 11–1.

Portugal national team in 1921

In the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Seleção played one game against Switzerland in a neutral ground, held in Milan, losing 2–1 against the Swiss, ending qualification prospects.
Because of the international conflict due to the World War II, there was no World Cup held until the 1950 competition and subsequently, the national team made very few games against other teams.
A 10–0 home friendly defeat against England, two years after the war, was the proof of how the irregularity of the games had taken its effects on the squad; this result still stands as their biggest ever defeat.

Recent history and Euro 2016 victory

Cristiano Ronaldo took over the captaincy after Euro 2008

For Euro 2008 Portugal finished second in qualification behind Poland, and won their first two group games against Turkey and the Czech Republic, although a loss to co-hosts Switzerland set up a quarter-final matchup with Germany which the team lost 2–3. After the tournament, Scolari left to take over at Chelsea.

Portugal came second in the qualifying stages for the 2010 FIFA World Cup under Carlos Quieroz, then beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in a play-off, thereby reaching every tournament in the decade. A 19-match undefeated streak, in which the team conceded only three goals, ended with a loss to eventual champions Spain in the round of 16, 1–0. Queiroz was later criticised for setting up his team in an overly cautious way. After the World Cup, squad regulars Simão, Paulo Ferreira, Miguel and Tiago all retired from international football. Queiroz was banned from coaching the national team for one month after he tried to block a doping test to the team while preparing for the World Cup, as well as directing insulting words to the testers. In consequence, he received a further six-month suspension. Several media outbursts from Queiroz against the heads of the Portuguese Football Federation, which partly prompted his dismissal. Paulo Bento was appointed as his replacement at head coach.

Portugal at UEFA Euro 2012

Bento's team qualified for Euro 2012, in which they lost their first game to Germany, then beat Denmark and the Netherlands to finish second in the group and qualify for the knockout phase. Portugal defeated the Czech Republic 1–0 in the quarter-finals, then lost to eventual champions Spain in the semi-finals on penalties. In 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Portugal won 4–2 on aggregate in a play-off against Sweden, and was drawn into Group G with the United States, Germany and Ghana. Their first match against the Germans was their worst-ever defeat in a World Cup, a 4–0 loss, and the team were eliminated due to inferior goal difference to the Americans.

Portugal began the Euro 2016 qualifiers with a 0–1 home defeat against Albania, which resulted in Bento being dismissed from his managerial post to be replaced by Fernando Santos in September 2014. Nevertheless, the team qualified and were placed in Group F alongside newcomers Iceland, Austria and Hungary. All of Portugal's three matches ended in draws but the new format allowed them to qualify to the knockout stage as the third-best third place team. Portugal beat Croatia 1–0 in the Round of 16 after a goal from Ricardo Quaresma in extra time. They defeated Poland 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals. They defeated Wales 2–0 in regulation time to reach the final at the Stade de France against the hosts themselves, France.They went on to win 1–0, with substitute Éder scoring the only goal in the 109th minute.

Portuguese Football Federation