Football

The national Portugal football team and the game in general is administrated by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). The Portugal team finishing 4th at the last World Cup in 2006, and Portugal have qualified three other times for the finals; 1966, 1986 and 2002. The first appearance saw them reach the semi final, losing 2-1 at Wembley to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times after surprise defeats to Morocco, United States and South Korea. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.

Video Highlights of the National Team - Watch England Lose, Again!

In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation hired Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 (The European Championships), where they lost to Greece, and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to France. The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio's 1966 third place finish as they lost to hosts Germany 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart, finishing in fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.

FIFA World Cup

1966 FIFA World Cup

The team started out with three wins in the group stage where they were in Group C when they beat Hungary, Bulgaria and two-time defending champions Brazil. Secondly they beat surprise quarter-finalist Korea DPR 5-3, with Eusébio getting four markers to overturn a 0-3 deficit. Later, they reached the semifinals where they were beaten by hosts England 2-1. Portugal then defeated USSR 2-1 in the third place match for their best World Cup finish to date. Eusébio was the top scorer of the World Cup with nine goals.
Eusébio played in the 1970 and 1974 World Cup qualifiers but Portugal failed to make the tournament Finals.

1986 FIFA World Cup

In the qualification round, Portugal had to beat West Germany in Stuttgart in the last qualifying game to be able to go through to the final round. Portugal won 0-1 and become the first team to beat West Germany at their home ground in an official match. Portugal was a fan favourite to make a good campaign because of their 1984 Euro Cup. The team exited early in the group stages after a win and two losses. They started with a 1-0 win to England. Later they were beaten by Poland with a score of 1-0 and Morocco with a score of 3-1.

1998 FIFA World Cup

The team almost qualified for the tournament that was to be hosted by France. However, during a qualifier in Germany, Rui Costa was controversially sent off for taking too long to walk off the field. Germany drew the crucial game and was thus able to qualify. This incident is regarded as one of the darkest in Portugal's football history, with FIFA being accused of favoritism in support of Germany, who were the defending Euro 96 champions.

2002 FIFA World Cup

Portugal entered the tournament as favorites to win Group D. However, they were upset 3-2 by the United States, at one point being three goals down in the match. They then rebounded with a 4-0 thrashing of Poland, with Pauleta getting a hat trick.

Needing a draw to advance, they lost the final group game to hosts South Korea. Argentinian referee Angel Sanchez sent off João Vieira Pinto for a tackle on Park Ji-Sung. Beto was ejected for his second yellow card of the match, reducing Portugal to nine men, and Park scored the winner to allow the Koreans to advance.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The Portuguese squad qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany under the leadership of manager Luis Felipe Scolari and came in first place in Group D with victories over Angola (1-0, goal from Pauleta), Iran (2-0, goals from Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo) and Mexico (2-1, goals from Maniche and Simão). Only Mexico's Francisco Fonseca was able to score against Portugal.

Portugal defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the Round of 16 on June 25 in Nuremberg in one of the ugliest games in World Cup history. The only goal came courtesy of a Maniche strike in an acrimonious match marked by 16 yellow cards, with 4 players being sent off for a second bookable offense.

On Saturday, July 1 at Gelsenkirchen in the controversial the quarter-final match which saw Wayne Rooney being sent off, Portugal drew with England but won penalty kicks (3-1) to reach their first World Cup semi-final since the days of Eusébio, 40 years earlier.

Portugal lost to France (1-0) in the semi-finals on Wednesday, July 5 at Munich. Two players had been forced to sit out due to accumulated bookings from the round of 16 and quarterfinals. It did not help that the team faced a hostile crowd of English and French fans; as Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of unsportsmanlike behavior. As in the semi-finals of Euro 2000, Portugal was again narrowly defeated by France, with the decisive goal being a penalty scored by Zinedine Zidane after Thierry Henry was awarded a penalty from a foul committed by Ricardo Carvalho. Portugal could have been awarded a penalty after Cristiano Ronaldo fell down in the box. However, a penalty was not awarded by the referee.

For third place, they faced Germany in the third place match on July 8 in Stuttgart. In this match, like the previous two in which Portugal had a couple of players suspended, the Selecção had lost Miguel to an injury suffered in the semi-final and Ricardo Carvalho to suspension, for accumulated yellow cards against Holland and France. Goalkeeper Ricardo had only conceded one goal in regular play so far (scored by Mexico's Francisco Fonseca, which would later curiously move to Portugal's own SL Benfica). Surprisingly, Figo did not start the match despite having captained the squad in the rest of the tournament. Not unlike the Lusitanians, three of Germany's starters, including captain Michael Ballack, would not be available due to injury. The first half was scoreless but Portugal had several good chances from Pauleta and Deco, forcing Oliver Kahn to make several saves. In the second half, Portugal was thoroughly routed 3-1 as Germany went up three goals to nil from Bastian Schweinsteiger's two goals and an own goal, also off his shot, by Portugal's Petit. Figo replaced Pauleta in the 77th minute, regaining his captaincy during the substitution. Although Germany scored another goal shortly after Figo's entrance, he set up Nuno Gomes's goal in the 88th minute to help Portugal claw back a marker, which was Portugal's second goal of the knockout round and the first since Maniche's against Holland.

Despite this defeat, the Portuguese public hailed their national team as heroes when they returned home. The team won the Most Entertaining Team award for their play during the 2006 World Cup. The award is always organized through public participation in a poll.

Portugal's "Golden Generation" retired after the 2006 World Cup. The departure of Luís Figo has left Portugal's squad with a new look in midfield that was once taken over by himself and the likes of Rui Costa and Sérgio Conceição. The squad attempting to qualify for Euro 2008 has produced strong young generation of players from the U-21 squad, Nani, and Cristiano Ronaldo who both happen to play for Manchester United are perhaps the most famous so far of the names that could bring future success to Portugal.