Portugal
The Portugal national football team (Portuguese: Seleção Portuguesa de Futebol) has represented Portugal in international men's football competition since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home matches are played at various stadiums throughout Portugal, and its primary training ground and technical headquarters, Cidade do Futebol, is located in Oeiras. The current head coach of the team is Fernando Santos and the captain is Cristiano Ronaldo, who also holds the team record for most caps and for most goals.
Portugal's first participation in a major tournament finals was at the 1966 World Cup, which saw a team featuring Ballon d'Or winner Eusébio finish in third place. Portugal also made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 1984, losing to hosts and eventual winners France. Under the team's first golden generation in the 1990s, Portugal began consistently featuring in the European Championship and World Cup; they made the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, finishing in fourth place, along with placing as runners-up at Euro 2004 as hosts, and reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2000 and Euro 2012. This was in great part due to the production of several players, such as Luís Figo, Rui Costa, Ricardo Carvalho, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
In 2014, Fernando Santos was appointed as the new head coach for the national team. Two years later at Euro 2016, Santos led Portugal to its first-ever major trophy, defeating hosts France in the final. With the win, Portugal qualified and made its only appearance in the FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia, where they finished in third place. Portugal qualified for and hosted the brand new 2019 Nations League finals where they triumphed, defeating the Netherlands and earning their second major tournament victory in three finals.
Portugal is colloquially referred to as the Seleção das Quinas (a synecdoche based on the flag of the country) and has notable rivalries with Brazil, due to shared cultural traits and heritage, France, due to several important meetings between the two teams at Euro and World Cup, and Spain, known as A Guerra Ibérica in Portuguese or The Iberian War in English, with the rivalry between two countries going back to 1581.
