Printed On 5 Sep 2025
Who: Armenia vs Portugal
What: UEFA qualifiers for FIFA 2026 World Cup
The place: Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan, Armenia
When: Saturday, September 6 at 8pm (16:00 GMT).
Find out how to comply with: We’ll have all of the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 13:00 GMT upfront of our dwell textual content commentary stream.
Advisable Tales
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Portugal start their quest to succeed in the FIFA 2026 World Cup once they journey to Armenia on Saturday for his or her UEFA qualifying match, however a lot of the main focus is on the primary match for the Portuguese for the reason that passing of their ahead, Diogo Jota.
Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves will put on the quantity 21 jersey of his late buddy, Jota, throughout video games for the nationwide workforce and has revealed a tattoo on his left calf in honour of the previous Liverpool striker, who died in July.
“I and your entire nationwide workforce will do the whole lot we will to maintain Diogo right here with us, on our workforce,” Neves mentioned late Tuesday at a ceremony at Portugal’s coaching base held forward of the workforce’s World Cup qualifiers in opposition to Armenia and Hungary. Republic of Eire are the opposite workforce in Group F
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, died in a automobile accident on July 3.
Neves, who performs for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, was very near Jota – they performed collectively at English membership Wolverhampton and Portugal – and spoke on behalf of the Portugal squad about his former teammate on the ceremony, which was additionally attended by Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Luis Montenegro, the lately appointed prime minister.
The Portuguese federation posted a video on X of Neves with a tattoo that reveals him embracing Jota, who was sporting the quantity 21 jersey.
𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗡𝗼𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗿. Por ti, Diogo Jota 🤍 pic.twitter.com/Qy56zijvNP
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) September 2, 2025
Tuesday’s ceremony was additionally a tribute to Jorge Costa, the previous Portugal worldwide who died final month of cardiac arrest.
Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Soccer Federation, described Jota and Costa as males “who beloved soccer; who beloved their nation; who beloved their nationwide workforce; males who defended, with braveness and dedication, the colors of our flag”.
Jota and Costa have been posthumously honoured as Commanders of the Order of Advantage and awarded medals, which have been accepted by relations.
The federation mentioned the squad was made up of “23 (+1)” gamers – in one other nod to the reminiscence of Jota.
Why have Portugal not performed any World Cup qualifiers but?
Portugal, together with 23 different groups, are solely becoming a member of the qualifying programme for the World Cup now as a result of progress of a number of the high seeds within the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June.
Portugal have been topped champions as they beat Spain 5-3 on penalties within the 2025 ultimate.
Portugal beat Germany within the semifinal, whereas Spain overcame France. The remainder of the qualifiers for the latter phases of that match are additionally solely getting into the World Cup qualifiers now.
Head-to-head
That is the seventh assembly between the nations, with 4 Portugal wins and two attracts recorded beforehand.
The final assembly got here in a Euro qualifier in 2015, which the Portuguese gained 3-2 in Armenia.
Armenia workforce information
Narek Grigoryan is injured, whereas Norberto Briasco misses out as a result of a household challenge.
Lucas Zelarayan and Grant-Leon Ranos are each, nonetheless, again within the first-team plans.
Portugal workforce information
Rafael Leao is out with a calf harm, whereas Diogo Dalot has a muscle drawback and has been compelled to withdraw.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 5 objectives in 4 video games in opposition to Armenia, together with a hat-trick within the final assembly between the edges.
Armenia predicted beginning lineup
Cancarevic; Hovhannisyan, Mkrtchyan, Arutyunyan, Muradyan, Tiknizyan; Iwu, Dashyan; Bichakhchyan, Zelarayan; Barseghyan
Portugal predicted beginning lineup
Costa; Cancelo, Dias, A. Silva, Mendes; Fernandes, R. Neves, Bernardo; Conceicao, Ronaldo, Neto