Portugal vs France facts

Portugal and France meet for the third successive UEFA European Championship as the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg stages the second quarter-final of UEFA EURO 2024.

Although France have had the upper hand in this fixture over the years, winning 19 of the 28 matches between the countries, memories are still fresh of Portugal's victory against Les Bleus at the Stade de France in the final of EURO 2016.

That is Portugal's only win in their last 14 games against France, with whom they shared a 2-2 draw in the EURO 2020 group stage.

The teams both edged through tight round of 16 ties to set up this contest. A late Jan Vertonghen own goal gave France a 1-0 win against Belgium in Düsseldorf on 1 July; later that day Portugal needed penalties to finally see off Slovenia in Frankfurt, Diogo Costa saving three spot kicks in the shoot-out to seal a 3-0 victory after a goalless 120 minute, Cristiano Ronaldo having an extra-time penalty saved by Jan Oblak.

While Portugal had finished top of Group F thanks to wins against Czechia (2-1) and Türkiye (3-0), despite a 2-0 Matchday 3 loss to Georgia, France were pushed down to second place in Group D by draws against the Netherlands (0-0) and Poland (1-1) after a 1-0 opening victory against Austria.

The winners of this tie will play Spain or Germany in the semi-finals in Munich on 9 July.

Previous meetings

Matches 28
France wins 19
Portugal wins 6
Draws 3
France goals 52
Portugal goals 31

There were three penalties when the sides met on Matchday 3 of EURO 2020 at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, a game that ended in a 2-2 draw. Cristiano Ronaldo's 31st-minute spot kick gave Portugal the lead but two Karim Benzema strikes either side of half-time (45+2pen, 47) turned the match in France's favour. Another Ronaldo penalty on the hour ensured the points were shared – a result that sent both through, France as Group F winners and Portugal as the best third-placed side overall, although neither would progress beyond the round of 16.

After a goalless UEFA Nations League draw at the Stade de France on 11 October 2020, France's N'Golo Kanté scored the only goal after 53 minutes at Lisbon's Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica on 14 November to secure first place in Group A3 and a place in the 2021 final tournament – which France went on to win, beating Spain 2-1 in the final.

Going into the final of EURO 2016, France had won ten successive matches between the sides.

Despite losing captain Ronaldo to injury with only 25 minutes played in that final, Fernando Santos's Portugal claimed the trophy thanks to a 109th-minute strike from substitute Éder – who had spent the second half of the 2015/16 season playing in France for LOSC Lille, and whose goal was his only competitive strike for his country.

Pepe was also in the Portugal line-up with Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and substitute Kingsley Coman featuring for France.

That ended a French winning streak against Portugal that had stretched back over 40 years to a 2-0 friendly success for Portugal at the Parc des Princes in April 1975, Nené and Marinho scoring the goals.

That long sequence of France wins against Portugal included victories in the semi-finals at the European Championship in 1984 (3-2) and 2000 (2-1) – when current coach Didier Deschamps was Les Bleus' captain – in addition to a 1-0 victory at the same stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Zinédine Zidane converted penalty winners in each of the last two games.

France had therefore won all three of their competitive matches against Portugal before the EURO 2016 final.

The last friendly between the sides ended in a 1-0 France win in Lisbon in September 2015, Mathieu Valbuena scoring the only goal.

EURO facts

Portugal

Portugal are making their ninth EURO appearance overall, and an eighth in succession.

Their greatest success came at EURO 2016, that extra-time winner from substitute Éder earning a 1-0 final win against hosts France in Saint-Denis.

Portugal's defence of their title ended in a 1-0 round of 16 loss to Belgium at EURO 2020. They had finished third in Group F behind France and Germany, winning only one game – 3-0 against Hungary in their opening fixture.

With Roberto Martínez having replaced EURO-winning coach Santos after the 2022 World Cup, Portugal stormed through EURO 2024 qualifying as the only team to win every game, scoring 36 goals and conceding only two as they finished eight points clear at the top of Group J. They qualified with three matches still to play thanks to a 3-2 home win against eventual runners-up Slovakia on 13 October 2023.

Ronaldo is appearing in his sixth EURO finals in Germany; he holds records for the most goals (14) and appearances (29) at the tournament.

Ronaldo hit five goals at EURO 2020, level with Czechia's Patrik Schick as the tournament's top scorer, but is yet to open his account at EURO 2024.

Pepe has also become the oldest player to feature in a EURO finals at EURO 2024; the Portugal centre-back was aged 41 years 126 days on 1 July, when he started against Slovenia.

Portugal have now qualified from their group on all nine appearances at a EURO final tournament.

The Seleção das Quinas' EURO quarter-final record is W4 L3:
1960 3-6 v Yugoslavia (agg; 2-1 h, 1-5 a)
1996 0-1 v Czechia
2000 2-0 v Türkiye
2004 2-2 v England (aet; 6-5 pens)
2008 2-3 v Germany
2012 1-0 v Czechia
2016 1-1 v Poland (aet, 5-4 pens)

Ronaldo converted a penalty in Portugal's shoot-out win against Poland eight years ago; he also got the winner against Czechia in 2012 and scored in the shoot-out defeat of England in 2004.

This is Portugal's first game at the Volksparkstadion.

France

European champions in 1984, as hosts, and 2000, France are in the finals for the 11th time overall and have not missed a tournament since 1988.

Hosts in 2016, when they lost to Portugal in the final, Les Bleus have been coached by Deschamps since 2012.

France were first in Group F at EURO 2020, ahead of Germany, holders Portugal and Hungary, but bowed out in the first knockout stage, losing 5-4 on penalties to Switzerland after a 3-3 draw in which they had led 3-1 with nine minutes remaining.

Deschamps' side have reached the final in three of last four World Cups and European Championships, losing 1-0 after extra time to Portugal in 2016 and Argentina on penalties in 2022 but beating Croatia to claim their second world title in 2018.

France won seven of their eight games on their way to EURO 2024, sealing their place in Germany with two matches to spare thanks to a 2-1 win away to the Netherlands on 13 October. They ended with 22 points, four clear of runners-up the Dutch.

A 14-0 home defeat of Gibraltar in France's penultimate fixture set a new European Championship qualifying record for biggest victory and was also Les Bleus' largest win.

Deschamps' team are unbeaten in seven games (W4 D3), since a 2-0 friendly reverse at home to Germany on 23 March. That is their only loss in their last 12 matches (W7 D4).

France have now progressed from the group stage eight times in ten EURO appearances, including in seven of the last eight.

Kylian Mbappé's penalty against Poland on Matchday 3 was his first goal in a EURO final tournament in his sixth appearance.

France's record in EURO quarter-finals is W4 L4:
1960 9-4 v Austria (agg; 5-2 h, 4-2 a)
1964 2-5 v Hungary (agg; 1-3 h, 1-2 a)
1968 2-6 v Yugoslavia (agg; 1-1 h, 1-5 a)
1996 0-0 v Netherlands (aet; 5-4 pens)
2000 2-1 v Spain
2004 0-1 v Greece
2012 0-2 v Spain
2016 5-2 v Iceland

Giroud scored two goals and Griezmann one in the 2016 defeat of Iceland.

Like Portugal, France have never played in Hamburg.

Links and trivia

Portugal coach Martínez was in charge of the Belgium side beaten by Deschamps' France in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup (0-1) and the 2021 Nations League (2-3).

Have played in France:
Danilo (Paris Saint-Germain 2020–)
Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain 2021–)
Vitinha (Paris Saint-Germain 2022–)
Gonçalo Ramos (Paris Saint-Germain 2023–)
Rafael Leão (LOSC Lille 2018/19)
Bernardo Silva (Monaco 2014–17)

Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Danilo and Gonçalo Ramos are Paris Saint-Germain team-mates of Warren Zaïre-Emery, Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Muani and Bradley Barcola, with Mbappé also at the Parc des Princes before departing this summer.

Have also played together:
Rafael Leão & Mike Maignan (LOSC Lille 2018/19, AC Milan 2021–)
Rafael Leão & Theo Hernández (AC Milan 2019–)
Rafael Leão & Olivier Giroud (AC Milan 2021–24)
João Cancelo, João Félix & Jules Koundé (Barcelona 2023/24)
Diogo Jota & Ibrahima Konaté (Liverpool 2021–)
João Cancelo & Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano, Kingsley Coman (Bayern München 2023)
Cristiano Ronaldo & Adrien Rabiot (Juventus 2019–21)
Diogo Dalot & Theo Hernández (AC Milan 2020/21)
Nélson Semedo & Ousmane Dembélé (Barcelona 2017–20)
Nélson Semedo & Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona 2019/20)
Bernardo Silva & Kylian Mbappé (Monaco 2015–17)
Cristiano Ronaldo & Théo Hernandez (Real Madrid 2017/18)
João Félix & N'Golo Kanté (Chelsea 2023)
João Félix & Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid 2021–23)

Griezmann – whose grandfather was born in the Portuguese city of Pacos de Ferreira – scored past Diogo Costa in the 11th minute of added time to give Atlético a dramatic 2-1 home victory against Porto on Matchday 1 of the 2022/23 Champions League. He also scored against the Portugal goalkeeper in Atlético's 3-1 Matchday 6 win against Porto in December 2021.

Bernardo Silva's final Monaco goal was scored past Mike Maignan in a 4-0 home Ligue 1 win against LOSC Lille on 14 May 2017.

On 16 April Mbappé scored twice in Paris's 4-1 win against a Barcelona team that included João Cancelo and substitute João Félix in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, earning a 6-4 aggregate win.

Rafael Leão opened the scoring as AC Milan beat Paris 2-1 on Matchday 4 of the 2023/24 Champions League; Olivier Giroud got the Italian team's winner.

Rafael Leão also scored in each leg as Milan beat Rennes 5-3 on aggregate in the UEFA Europa League knockout play-offs in February.

A Real Madrid side including Ronaldo and Pepe were victorious against Atlético de Madrid's Griezmann in the 2016/17 Champions League final, Ronaldo scoring the decisive penalty after a 1-1 draw in Milan; Griezmann had fired a spot kick against the crossbar in normal time but scored in the shoot-out.

Kanté was named Man of the Match in the 2021 Champions League final as his Chelsea team defeated a Manchester City side featuring Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva 1-0 in Porto.

Danilo scored in Portugal's 2-0 win against France in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup semi-finals.

Ronaldo was sent off in Portugal's 2-0 loss against France at the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship – his first appearance in an international final tournament.

Penalty shoot-outs

Portugal's shoot-out record is now W4 L2:
6-5 v England, EURO 2004 quarter-final
3-1 v England, 2006 World Cup quarter-final
2-4 v Spain, EURO 2012 semi-final
5-3 v Poland, EURO 2016 quarter-final
0-3 v Chile, 2017 Confederations Cup semi-final
3-0 v Slovenia, EURO 2024 round of 16

France's record in eight competitive penalty shoot-outs is W3 L5 with defeats in the last three:
4-5 v West Germany, 1982 World Cup semi-final
4-3 v Brazil, 1986 World Cup quarter-final
5-4 v Netherlands, EURO '96 quarter-final
5-6 v Czech Republic, EURO '96 semi-final
4-3 v Italy, 1998 World Cup quarter-final
3-5 v Italy, 2006 World Cup final
4-5 v Switzerland, EURO 2020 round of 16
2-4 v Argentina, 2022 World Cup final