Portugal National Football Team Before and After Debut of Cristiano Ronaldo: Two Worlds For European Giants Centered Around CR7
The Portuguese national team has grown in leaps and bounds with consistent performances and trophy haul in major international tournaments in the last 2 decades. A team blessed with talented football players like Eusebio da Silva Ferreira-who thrived in the 1966 World Cup, Luis Figo, and Rui Costa has often struggled to dominate at the world stage, given the abundance of talent at its disposal. But the side looked different with Cristiano Ronaldo in the playing XI.
The UEFA Nations League triumph on Sunday was the 2nd for Portugal and the 3rd trophy since Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut against Kazakhstan in 2023. The Portuguese team have also consistently qualified for the major competitions with favorite tags attached to a team that many have grown to fear.
Lea también: Chance for Cristiano Ronaldo to End Trophy Drought? CR7’s Next Destination Makes Headlines
Portugal National Football Team Before Ronaldo
Portugal has always produced star players over time, but often struggled to knit together a team capable of constantly challenging for major laurels with star players like Ronaldo. 90 years before Cristiano Ronaldo made his debut for Portugal, the senior national team never won a major laurel, making a world cup appearance just 3 times and qualifying for the European championship another 3 times while boasting talents like, Luis Figo and Eusebio who was given the 1965 version of the Ballon d’or while scoring 733 times in 745 matches. He also scored 9 goals in 6 matches, but it wouldn’t be enough as Portugal finished 3rd at the 1966 World Cup. Before that, Portugal missed out on the previous 7 editions.
Portugal would also miss out on the next 4 editions of the World cup until the 1986 world cup where they were knocked out at the group stage and did not participate until the 2002 edition with another disappointing first round exit, Cristiano Ronaldo would make his debut the following year and as they say: ‘the rest is history’
Portugal’s best outing at the European championship before 2003 was a semi-final finish in the 1984 and 2000 editions, while failing to qualify for 8 editions in a period between 1960 and 1992.
Portugal National Football Team After Ronaldo
Since Ronaldo made his debut on 20 August 2003, Portugal has never missed a major competition, appearing in five consecutive World Cups between 2006 and 2022, finishing third in 2006 and the quarter-finals in 2022. The Portuguese National team recorded more success in the European championship, making an appearance in all since 2004, winning it for the first time in 2016 with consistent progress to the quarter final stage, finishing as runners up once and a semi-final appearance.
Portugal claimed the UEFA Nations League courtesy of the 5-3 win on penalty after the game ended 2-2, The latest Nations League win means Cristiano Ronaldo is the first captain to have lifted the trophy twice, earning Portugal the tag of most successful country in the history of the competition.
Luis Figo on his 50th birthday explained that the Portugal national team would head into matches with negativity, a lack of confidence hoping to avoid defeat but the coming of Ronaldo changed all that as country with 10.58 million people suddenly no longer had the inferiority complex when they faced top teams as Ronaldo’s winning mentality and commitment to the course infected the entire team and the next generation of players to come.
“I had already felt it during the warmup, I had been feeling it for some time, but for the national team, if I had to break my leg, I would have broken it,”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s National Team career
Since making his debut under Brazilian Luis Felipe Scolari, Cristiano Ronaldo has played in 219 matches across the FIFA World Cup, European Championship, European qualifiers, Nations League and international Friendlies, scoring 138 goals and registering 45 assists while never being sent off.
He has won the European Championship once in 2016 and the Nations League twice in 2019 and 2025. He also scored 14 goals each in the European Championship and the Nations League, while scoring 8 goals in the course of 5 World Cup appearances.
ES 
EN