Published On 5 Sep 2025
Who: Armenia vs Portugal
What: UEFA qualifiers for FIFA 2026 World Cup
Where: Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan, Armenia
When: Saturday, September 6 at 8pm (16:00 GMT).
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 13:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
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Portugal begin their quest to reach the FIFA 2026 World Cup when they travel to Armenia on Saturday for their UEFA qualifying match, but much of the focus is on the first match for the Portuguese since the passing of their forward, Diogo Jota.
Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves will wear the number 21 jersey of his late friend, Jota, during games for the national team and has revealed a tattoo on his left calf in honour of the former Liverpool striker, who died in July.
“I and the entire national team will do everything we can to keep Diogo here with us, on our team,” Neves said late Tuesday at a ceremony at Portugal’s training base held ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Hungary. Republic of Ireland are the other team in Group F
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, died in a car accident on July 3.
Neves, who plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, was very close to Jota – they played together at English club Wolverhampton and Portugal – and spoke on behalf of the Portugal squad about his former teammate at the ceremony, which was also attended by Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Luis Montenegro, the recently appointed prime minister.
The Portuguese federation posted a video on X of Neves with a tattoo that shows him embracing Jota, who was wearing the number 21 jersey.
𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗡𝗼𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗿. Por ti, Diogo Jota 🤍 pic.twitter.com/Qy56zijvNP
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) September 2, 2025
Tuesday’s ceremony was also a tribute to Jorge Costa, the former Portugal international who died last month of cardiac arrest.
Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, described Jota and Costa as men “who loved football; who loved their country; who loved their national team; men who defended, with courage and dedication, the colours of our flag”.
Jota and Costa were posthumously honoured as Commanders of the Order of Merit and awarded medals, which were accepted by family members.
The federation said the squad was made up of “23 (+1)” players – in another nod to the memory of Jota.
Why have Portugal not played any World Cup qualifiers yet?
Portugal, along with 23 other teams, are only joining the qualifying programme for the World Cup now due to the progress of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June.
Portugal were crowned champions as they beat Spain 5-3 on penalties in the 2025 final.
Portugal beat Germany in the semifinal, while Spain overcame France. The rest of the qualifiers for the latter stages of that tournament are also only entering the World Cup qualifiers now.
Head-to-head
This is the seventh meeting between the countries, with four Portugal wins and two draws recorded previously.
The last meeting came in a Euro qualifier in 2015, which the Portuguese won 3-2 in Armenia.
Armenia team news
Narek Grigoryan is injured, while Norberto Briasco misses out due to a family issue.
Lucas Zelarayan and Grant-Leon Ranos are both, however, back in the first-team plans.
Portugal team news
Rafael Leao is out with a calf injury, while Diogo Dalot has a muscle problem and has been forced to withdraw.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored five goals in four games against Armenia, including a hat-trick in the last meeting between the sides.
Armenia predicted starting lineup
Cancarevic; Hovhannisyan, Mkrtchyan, Arutyunyan, Muradyan, Tiknizyan; Iwu, Dashyan; Bichakhchyan, Zelarayan; Barseghyan
Portugal predicted starting lineup
Costa; Cancelo, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; Fernandes, R. Neves, Bernardo; Conceicao, Ronaldo, Neto