Portugal has qualified directly for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after trouncing Armenia 9-1 at Estádio do Dragão, Porto on Sunday (November 16).
With captain and star Cristiano Ronaldo out due to suspension, Portugal put on an incredibly dominant performance. Villarreal centre-back Renato Veiga headed in the first goal just seven minutes into the match before Eduard Spertsyan equalised for the visitors 11 minutes later. The Armenian resistance was quickly dismantled, however, with Gonçalo Ramos taking advantage of a glaring mistake by the visitors to retake the lead before João Neves and Bruno Fernandes began to devastate the opposing side with three goals each. Francisco Conceição scored the final goal in a match that could have ended with an even more lopsided result, given the number of missed opportunities by the home side.
The dominant performance revived discussions about whether Portugal is better off without Ronaldo – an idea defended by some and decried by others, including Portugal’s head coach, Roberto Martínez.
“When he scores, they ask, ‘what are we going to do without him’, and say there is a dependence (on him). When he doesn’t play and we win, they say ‘who needs him…’. One thing is the popular debate on the streets, another is the competitiveness of our locker room,” Martínez told reporters after the match.
With the win, Portugal finished first place in Group F of the European Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, three points ahead of Ireland, which is celebrating a dramatic last-second victory in Hungary that secured a playoff spot for ‘The Green Army’.
Portugal will participate in its seventh straight World Cup with strong hopes of winning the tournament.
“It has never been done,” said Martínez. “We are going to prepare the World Cup well and give it our all to win it.”
