Portugal at the World Cup
The 2022 World Cup was Portugal's 8th appearance at the World Cup, adding to appearances in 1966, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Portugal's best performance at the World Cup to date is finishing third in 1966.
At their second appearance at the World Cup in 1986, the Portuguese went home after the first round despite a win against England. In 2002, their third appearance, Portugal again were eliminated in the first round, after an unexpected 1-0 loss to Korea Republic in their final group game.
Portugal has qualified for all World Cup tournaments since 2002.
Portugal will co-host the 2030 World Cup.
Trivia
- The Portuguese National Football team has the nickname Selecção das Quinas. In Portuguese the word "QUINAS" is a 5 sided Polyhedron, representing the "Forts" (Castles) Conquered from the Moors, in the "Foundation" of Portugal in 1143.
- Portugal qualified for their first FIFA World Cup finals in 1966 and caused something of a stir on their debut appearance. Trailing 3-0 to Korea DPR in the quarter-finals, the Portuguese recovered to win 5-3, thanks in large part to four goals from Eusebio. In the semi-final Portugal fell 2-1 to the eventual world champions England. In the play-off for third place they beat the USSR by the same score. Eusebio was the top goal scorer of the tournament with nine goals to his name.
- Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal for Portugal in 2022 aged 37 years and 292 days, and thereby becoming the oldest player to score for Portugal at the World Cup. He also holds the record for being the youngest for scoring at the 2006 World Cup at 21 years and 132 days old.
- Portugal qualified for the women's FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2023.
Related Pages
- About the women's team from Portugal at the football World Cup
- List of all countries who have participated in the World Cup
- Portugal at the UEFA Euros
- FIFA World Cup Home
- About Sport in Portugal
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