Portugal national under-21 football team

The Portugal national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Portugal and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). They are nicknamed "Esperanças." Esperança means hope, thus they are Portugal's hopes for the future.

Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, the Portuguese under-21 team was formed. Until 1994, the team had a rather poor record, failing to qualify for each of the first eight UEFA under-21 Championships. Since 1994, the team has improved its record greatly, qualifying for five of the next seven tournaments, including the 2006 finals.

Having qualified for the 2006 tournament finals, UEFA announced that Portugal would host the finals in May and June. From 2007 onwards, host nations will be announced before the qualification stage and will not need to qualify.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

 * *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
 * **Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won.
 * ***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Top appearances
Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top goalscorers
Note: Club(s) represents the clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Current squad
Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

The following 23 players were called up for the UEFA Under-21 Euro 2025 qualifying matches against Faroe Islands and Croatia on 21 and 26 March 2024, respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of: 26 March 2024, after the match against

Recent call-ups
The following players have previously been called up to the under-21 squad and remain eligible for selection.

INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. OTH Player withdrew from the squad due to other reasons.

Head coaches
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left" !rowspan=2| Manager !rowspan=2| Period !colspan=8| Record !G !W !D !L !GF !GA !GD !Win %
 * José Alberto Costa
 * –1993
 * –1993


 * Nelo Vingada
 * 1994–1996
 * 1994–1996


 * Jesualdo Ferreira
 * 1996–2000
 * 1996–2000


 * Agostinho Oliveira
 * 2000–2002
 * 2000–2002


 * Rui Caçador
 * 2002
 * 2002


 * José Romão
 * 2002–2004
 * 2002–2004


 * Rui Caçador
 * 2004
 * 2004


 * Agostinho Oliveira
 * 2004–2006
 * 2004–2006


 * José Couceiro
 * 2006–2007
 * 2006–2007


 * Rui Caçador
 * 2007–2009
 * 2007–2009


 * Oceano Cruz
 * 2009–2010
 * 2009–2010


 * Rui Jorge
 * 2010–present
 * 2010–present

Honours

 * UEFA Under-21 European Championship runners-up: 1994, 2015, 2021