Portugal national under-21 football team

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Portugal Under-21

Nickname(s)	Esperanças (Hopes)
Association	Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Head coach	Rui Jorge
Captain	Henrique Araújo
Most caps	Manuel Fernandes (30)
Top scorer	Hugo Almeida (16)
First colours Second colours
First international
Portugal 3–1 South Africa  (Lisbon, Portugal; 16 November 1958)
Biggest win
Portugal 11–0 Liechtenstein  (Vizela, Portugal; 7 October 2021)
Biggest defeat
Italy 6–0 Portugal  Piacenza, Italy; 2 December 1987 Records for competitive matches only.
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	10 (first in 1994)
Best result	Runners-up (1994, 2015, 2021)

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.