Portugal women's national football team

Portugal women's national football team
The Portugal women's national football team represents Portugal in international women's football competition. The team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and competes as a member of UEFA in various international football tournaments such as the FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA Women's Euro, the Summer Olympics, and the Algarve Cup.
History
The Portuguese women's team historically was one of the weakest in Western Europe since its formation. In recent years however the team has made major strides, qualifying for the newly expanded UEFA Women's Euro 2017, marking the team's first appearance in a major tournament. Despite ultimately finishing last in their group, the team put in a respectable performance, picking up a win in their second match against a Scottish side which had been favored to beat them, and only losing to England by one goal.
After finishing a distant third in their qualifying group for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup behind Italy and Belgium and failing to qualify, the Portuguese team then looked forward to trying to repeat their achievement of four years prior by qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2022, which they eventually did under quite unusual circumstances. After a strong group stage campaign in which Portugal won all its games except for the two games against group winner Finland, including beating the heavily favored top seed Scotland both home and away, the team reached the play-off stage where they were drawn against Russia. The team came agonizingly close as they narrowly lost the first game in Portugal 0–1 before managing a goalless draw in the second leg in Russia. As a result Russia originally qualified for the Euro, but due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine all Russian representative teams were banned from competition by FIFA, thus giving Portugal a reprieve as they took Russia's place in Group C of the Women's Euro. Portugal is placed in group C with Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland as opponents. They were eliminated in the first round, finishing last with a point obtained thanks to a draw against Switzerland (2–2 after being 0–2 down and having dominated the game overall), and two defeats against the favorites of the group (a close one 2–3 against the Dutch title holders after having recovered a two-goal handicap for a while, then a much heavier defeat 0–5 against Sweden).
Portugal qualified for their first World Cup at the 2023 edition after beating Cameroon 2–1 at the International playoff Final. Thus, the Portuguese win their first ticket for a final phase of the World Cup and are placed in a particularly strong group E, in the company of the United States (double world champions in title), the Netherlands (winner of the Euro 2017 and vice-world champions), as well as Vietnam. On July 23, 2023, the Portuguese played their first World Cup match against the Netherlands at the end of which they lost (0–1). The following match on July 27, the Portuguese signed their first victory in the World Cup against Vietnam (2–0 victory), notably thanks to Telma Encarnação who became the first Portuguese scorer in the World Cup. In doing so, the Lusitanians preserved their chances of qualifying for the round of 16 leaving them in a must win scenario the Americans, who were provisionally ahead of them by one point, in the last group match. The Seleçao hung against all odds on their opponent, having had opportunities to score the winning goal including a shot hitting the post in the dying moments of the game. Ultimately, they did not succeed in passing the first round drawing 0-0, and finished the World Cup in 3rd place in its group with 4 points in its first participation.
Team image
Nicknames
The Portugal women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as "".
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend
2022
2023
Official Portugal results and fixtures
Coaching staff
Current coaching staff
Manager history
Francisco Neto (2014–)
Players
Caps and goals may be incorrect.
Current squad
The following players were named for the 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League matches against Austria twice on 27 and 31 October 2023.
Caps and goals correct as of 26 September 2023, after the match against Norway
Recent call-ups
The following players were named to a Portugal squad in the last 12 months.
Previous squads
UEFA European Women's Championship
UEFA Women's Euro 2017 squad
Algarve Cup
Algarve Cup 2013 squad
Algarve Cup 2014 squad
Algarve Cup 2015 squad
Algarve Cup 2016 squad
Algarve Cup 2017 squad
Algarve Cup 2018 squad
Algarve Cup 2019 squad
Algarve Cup 2020 squad
Records
Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 25 October 2023.
Most capped players
Top goalscorers
Competitive record
FIFA Women's World Cup
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
UEFA European Women's Championship
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
Algarve Cup
The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running women's international football events and has been nicknamed the "Mini FIFA Women's World Cup."
Torneio Internacional de Futebol Feminino
References
External links
Official website
FIFA profile
European women's national association football teams
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