Rui Jorge still wants a hand on Portugal’s under-21 trophy

Rui Jorge still follows Portugal’s under-21 results, but he prefers not to watch the matches. Seeing players he coached brings back the future he had pictured for them, including the next qualification campaign and European Championship.

“When I see Mateus Fernandes, Geovany Quenda, Rodrigo Mora, Carlos Forbes ... There were many players at that stage for whom I pictured the next qualification and the next European Championship unfolding in a certain way. So I prefer not to watch. But it is only with the under-21 team.”

The dispute is not over whether Portugal could change its under-21 coach. Rui Jorge says he accepted the FPF’s right to do so; what he cannot accept is how the decision was handled. He says the process was unclear and that Pedro Proença, the federation’s president, did not speak to him as he left. In a new account of the departure, Jorge calls the treatment dishonest and hurtful. His complaint puts the distinction between an official change of coach and the personal respect he expected at the centre of scrutiny over how the FPF ended his long tenure.

Portugal’s 1-0 quarter-final defeat by the Netherlands in Zilina on 21 June 2025 was Rui Jorge’s last match in charge of the under-21s, according to reports by Maisfutebol and Observador. The team’s European Championship ended there; after the tournament, his contract with the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) came to an end. It was the conclusion of his tenure, not a departure he says he expected to prevent.

Jorge has separated the decision to appoint someone else from the way the transition was handled. He told Lusa that a federation wanting a change of coach was entirely reasonable.

“It is perfectly natural to want a change.”

“The way it is done can and should be quite different.”

For Jorge, the grievance centres on a basic courtesy after years working with Portugal’s national teams: a direct conversation with Pedro Proença as he left. He told Lusa that the president did not speak to him, and that the departure was not handled clearly.

“I spent many years connected to our national team, and to me it is not acceptable that, when someone leaves, the president does not have a word with us. Besides not being done clearly, it is not acceptable. It is not the conduct of a decent person. And that obviously made me sad.”

His language about the episode went beyond disappointment. He said it had left him hurt and sad, making clear that, for him, the issue was not simply the abruptness of a coaching change.

Jorge also set out how he judged his own conduct: he believes he did what was expected of him, but would have treated the departing coach differently if their positions had been reversed. That is his account of the exchange; the FPF’s public announcement later thanked him for his work, a gesture he says he does not know whether he received directly.

“I am not responsible for other people’s attitude, but I do think it was an ugly moment that does not reflect well on the FPF. There is nothing I can do about that. I know I did things as they should be done, but I am fully aware that if I were on the other side, I would not have done it the same way.”

Rui Jorge’s account of the exit has not stopped him wishing Luís Freire well. After learning Freire would take charge of Portugal’s under-21s, Jorge phoned his successor to offer support, he told Lusa. He hoped Freire would find the same happiness in the role that he had.

“I called him to wish him all the best, and to be as happy with the under-21 team as I was.”

The gesture puts a distinction around his grievance. Jorge’s hurt is tied to the way his own time with the under-21 side ended, not to the national team or Portuguese football more broadly. He made that limit explicit in his interview, separating this particular team from the wider game.

“But it is only with the under-21 team.”

His call addressed the person taking over; his account of the hurt remains about what happened when he left.

The FPF’s announcement appointing Luís Freire on 16 July 2025 included a formal account of Rui Jorge’s contribution to the under-21 side. Its wording recognised not only his work as coach but his role in developing young internationals.

That public recognition sits alongside Jorge’s account, but does not answer his central complaint: that the departure itself lacked a clear, direct conversation. He told Lusa he did not know whether the federation had thanked him in a communiqué. The announcement shows the FPF’s formal position; it cannot establish what was said to him privately, or whether he felt treated with the respect he expected.

The scale of Rui Jorge’s tenure can be seen in the numbers. Observador recorded 90 wins, 19 draws and 18 defeats across his 127 matches in charge, with Portugal scoring 325 goals and conceding 105. Record reported that 65 players who came through his under-21 teams went on to represent the senior national side.

Those figures describe a role that reached well beyond results at one age group. Jorge’s work helped shape the next generation of Portugal internationals, giving the end of his time with the under-21s a weight beyond a change on the coaching staff. The team also reached two European Championship finals during his tenure, according to Record and Observador, but did not win the tournament.

For now, Jorge follows the results from a distance. The FPF has set Luís Freire the target of winning the under-21 European Championship in 2027 and qualifying for the 2028 Olympics. Jorge says the trophy would bring him back to the team’s biggest day.

“If he wins the trophy I tried so hard for and could not, I’ll ask him to let me be there at the final and touch a little of that trophy we have been chasing for so long.”

The man who would rather not watch Portugal’s under-21s has not ruled out standing beside them again. The next chance to see whether Freire can bring that ambition closer comes with the campaign for the 2027 tournament.

• The 2027 under-21 European Championship: the FPF’s stated target is for Portugal to win it.
• If Freire wins the European Championship, whether Jorge gets his place at the final and a touch of the trophy.