Defeat with Denmark leaves Portugal out of the U19 European Championship

Portugal only needed a draw to be in the finals, in Northern Ireland, but the Nordics won, in Coimbra, 2-0, and will make their debut in an under-19 European Championship

Portugal, a finalist defeated by Italy in the 2023 edition, will not be in the final phase of next summer’s U19 European Championship, to be held in Northern Ireland, between the 15th and 28th of July.

In Coimbra, Portugal only needed a draw against the Scandinavian team to secure first place in group 4 of the Elite Round, but goals in the second half from Thomas Jorgensen (62′) and Emil Hojlund (70′) left the José Lima’s team out of the competition. For Denmark, this will be their debut in a European Championship in this category.

«My reaction is frustration because we had the objective of going to the European Championship. We have to congratulate Denmark, who ended up winning and deserving of the victory. We were not the team we intended to be. We knew the 2005 generation from Denmark was very strong. We had already lost two games against this team and today it happened again. Now we have to work for the future», said José Lima after the defeat in Coimbra.

Thus, those qualified are: Northern Ireland, France, Turkey, Spain, Ukraine, Italy, Norway and Denmark.