Portugal squad World Cup 2026: Roberto Martinez's 27-man preliminary selection (original) (raw)

Portugal World Cup 2026 squad: Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal poses for a portrait during the Portugal Portrait session ahead of the UEFA EURO 2024 Germany on June 09, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Portugal World Cup 2026 squad has been practically confirmed.

Managers are permitted 26 players at World Cup 2026, but Roberto Martinez has named 27 Portuguese stars in one of the most exciting squads of the tournament, with four goalkeepers set to be trimmed down to three.

It's a side that features A-listers as you'd expect, too: FWA Player of the Year Bruno Fernandes, Paris Saint-Germain double-pivot Vitinha and Joao Neves, Manchester City stars Bernardo Silva, Matheus Nunes and Ruben Dias, and a stacked frontline featuring Rafael Leao, Pedro Neto and Joao Felix.

While there is obvious experience across the side, too, there are players who can dominate for the next decade or so: Nuno Mendes is 23, Goncalo Inacio 24, and Diogo Costa is still just 26 – which is practically an infant in goalkeeper terms.

Oh, and then there's the small matter of all-time record men's international goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner ranked at no.4 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest players of all time and looking to cement his legacy to bring a first-ever World Cup back to Portugal, as he chases 1,000 career goals in the game.

It's hard not to look past Martinez's men as one of the favourites for the competition based on talent alone, with their list of discarded parts an impressive collection of players, too: destroyer Joao Palhinha misses out after a poor season, defensive prospect Antonio Silva is overlooked and Rodrigo Mora – who was profiled recently by FFT's Joe Donnohue in our The Boy's A Bit Special series – is left at home after a March call-up.

Ronaldo obviously has his sights set on a similar script to Lionel Messi in Qatar… but is the 41-year-old still influential enough to lead his nation to victory?

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Squad

Portugal World Cup 2026 squad: The preliminary selection

Fixtures and results

Fixtures

Recent results

Group K standings

Portugal are in Group K at World Cup 2026.

Manager

Who is Portugal's manager?

Portugal Euro 2024 squad Roberto Martinez, Head Coach of Portugal, looks on as he inspects the pitch prior to the UEFA EURO 2024 round of 16 match between Portugal and Slovenia at Frankfurt Arena on July 01, 2024 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Scheuber - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Roberto Martinez, Head Coach of Portugal (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Portuguese national team is Roberto Martinez's second foray into international management after a spell in charge of Belgium.

With the Red Devils, he reached the 2018 World Cup semi-final, eventually losing to champions France. His performances at the delayed 2020 Euros and 2022 World Cup were far below par, however.

In June 2025 he added the Nations League to his trophy cabinet, alongside the FA Cup which he won with Wigan, and the EFL League One trophy, which he won with Swansea in 2008.

Portugal's Star Player

Who is Portugal's star player?

Portugal captain Cristian Ronaldo

Portugal captain Cristian Ronaldo (Image credit: Getty Images)

Not much needs to be said about Cristiano Ronaldo. He is ranked at no.4 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest players of all time, no.2 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest Real Madrid players of all time and is a five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Ronaldo has won almost everything there is to win, with just the World Cup eluding him so far. This will be his sixth attempt at securing the ultimate gong in football, and will likely be his last chance to do so.

He's now 41 years old, and assuming he continues scoring at his current rate, he'll be edging closer to scoring 1000 professional goals.

Best XI

Born in the UK, Tom has lived in Lisbon since 1994 and has spent the last three decades championing the often manic, frequently dazzling and always stimulating world of Portuguese football to the English-speaking world. He created portugoal.net, the foremost source for Portuguese football information in the English language, has co-authored two books on the subject, is the Portugal correspondent for World Soccer Magazine and has appeared on multiple TV and radio shows (BBC, CNN, RTP) as a Portuguese football expert.