What happened next? Every member of Portugal’s history-making from Euro 2016
Portugal stunned the football world when they beat host nation France 1-0 in the Euro 2016 final at the Stade de France, securing their first-ever major honour.
Truth be told it was a fairly average game but there was certainly a strong narrative to proceedings as Cristiano Ronaldo became player-coach after being forced off through injury while the much-maligned Eder came out of nowhere to strike the winning goal in extra-time.
But how have their squad of 23 players performed in the seven years following their international success?
It would be fair to say they’ve enjoyed contrasting fortunes…
Rui Patricio
Club: Roma
Rui Patricio enjoyed two solid seasons with Sporting CP, where he had spent his entire career. But in the summer of 2018, the goalkeeper was one of seven players to cancel their contracts with the Portuguese club after a group of supporters attacked members of the first-team squad at the training ground.
Patricio subsequently joined Wolves, who still had to pay a £16m fee, as they embarked on their return to the Premier League – and he became key to the club’s European challenges and stability in the top flight before joining Roma and winning the Europa Conference League in first season under Jose Mourinho.
Bruno Alves
Current club: Retired
Following Euro 2016, Bruno Alves moved from Fenerbahce to Cagliari and helped the club stave off the threat of relegation. A year later he joined Rangers, playing 25 times in all competitions but moved on once more, joining Parma in 2018. He went on to play for Famalicao and Apollon Smyrnis before bowing out in 2022 and taking up a sporting director role at AEK Athens.
Pepe
Current club: Porto
Pepe endured an injury-hit campaign following Euro 2016 that would eventually see him leave Real Madrid, falling behind Raphael Varane and Nacho Fernandez in the pecking order — though he still added another La Liga and Champions League.
The centre-back then moved on to Besiktas after his Real Madrid contract expired, spending 18 months at the club before returning to Porto in January 2019, where he remains to this day at the ripe old age of 40.
Jose Fonte
Current club: Braga
Jose Fonte tainted his reputation at Southampton by handing in a transfer request in January 2017 to force through an £8m move to West Ham. However, the move was not a successful one, and he left for Chinese Super League Cup Dalian Yifang a year later.
But another poor spell in China followed, with Fonte terminating his contract in July 2018 — just five months and seven appearances after joining. Fonte went on to play for Lille and famously helped the club win Ligue 1 in 2020/21. He played just shy of 200 appearances for the French club and even appeared for the national team as recently as last year.
Now, at 39, the two-time Southampton ‘Player of the Season’ has returned to his homeland, recently signing for Braga.
Raphael Guerreiro
Current club: Bayern Munich
Raphael Guerreiro enjoyed a solid debut campaign at Dortmund following his move from Lorient, impressing in a number of positions as the club finished third in the Bundesliga. He went from strength to strength in the Ruhr Valley, establishing himself as one of the most attack-minded full-backs in the continent. That notion certainly wasn’t lost on former Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, who recently prised him to Bayern Munich on a free transfer.
Ricardo Carvalho
Current club: Retired
Ricardo Carvalho spent the first half of the season as a free agent before sealing a lucrative move to Shanghai SIPG to join up with Oscar, Hulk and Andre Villas-Boas. Now 45, the Portuguese centre-back retired from football in January 2018 and is currently assistant manager of the Portugal national team following a spell as Marseille’s No. 2.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Current club: Al Nassr
Cristiano Ronaldo is both international football’s most capped player — with 200 appearances for Portugal — and all-time record scorer with 123 goals. He is a European Championship and Nations League winner with Portugal, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Real Madrid’s record scorer and a five-time Champions League winner. He has a CV that includes Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus and Sporting CP, some of Europe’s most aristocratic clubs, and is now making a pretty penny in the Middle East. It’s certainly not been a bad career.
Joao Moutinho
Current club: Free agent
Joao Moutinho ended the following season with some silverware after helping Monaco win a first Ligue 1 title in 17 years. The midfielder remained for one more season after Monaco’s max exodus but eventually left for Wolves, where he continued to exude class in the Premier League before leaving this summer. The 36-year-old is yet to sign for a new club.
Eder
Current club: Retired
The hero of the final, moving on from the traffic cone nickname due to his poor performances at the 2014 World Cup, Eder struggled to build upon his career-defining strike in the 2016-17 season, scoring only six league goals for Lille and losing his place in the Portugal squad in the process.
Eder spent the 2017/18 season on loan at Lokomotiv Moscow and made that move permanent a year later, before joining Al Raed in Saudi Arabia and retiring last year.
Joao Mario
Current club: Benfica
Joao Mario was a frequent starter for Inter in his first season after completing a big-money move from Sporting in 2016 but eventually lost his place, resulting in a loan to West Ham United in the Premier League.
The midfielder had a decent spell in East London but returned to Inter and is now back in Lisbon, this time for Benfica.
Vieirinha
Current club: PAOK
The versatile right-sided player had his fair share of injuries in the season following Euro 2016, which saw him move from Wolfsburg to PAOK. Vieirinha has fared slightly better in Greece, playing 172 times for the Double-headed eagle of the North.
Anthony Lopes
Current club: Lyon
A backup goalkeeper at Euro 2016, Anthony Lopes resumed first-team duties at Lyon and has made 456 appearances for the club across 11 seasons.
Danilo Pereira
Current club: PSG
Danilo Pereira lost his place in the Portugal side for the final against France but bounced back to a stellar season in 2016/17. The following campaign saw Pereira suffer with injury problems missing Porto’s run to the title, but he once again became a key member of their squad, and has since moved on to PSG.
William Carvalho
Current club: Real Betis
Perennially linked with a move away from Sporting, William Carvalho eventually flew the nest in 2018 following the attack from the club’s fans, joining Real Betis.
That move came one year on from heavy interest from West Ham, which led to a war of words with Sporting’s president and the co-owners of the Hammers.
Andre Gomes
Current club: Everton
Andre Gomes joined Barcelona from Valencia for €35m but did not live up to expectations at the Nou Camp, eventually leaving for Everton, first on loan and then permanently, showing flashes of quality in the Premier League. Unfortunately a major injury halted his progress and he hasn’t really been the same player since, spending last season on loan at Lille.
Renato Sanches
Current club: PSG
Portugal’s golden boy at Euro 2016 barely had a chance after linking up with Bayern Munich following the conclusion of the tournament. While he got his hands on a Bundesliga title, Sanches failed to score or provide an assist and ended up making a surprise deadline day move to Swansea City on loan.
But the Portuguese midfielder failed to get out of his slump as the Welsh side were relegated from the Premier League. Sanches moved to Lille to revitalise his career and began flourishing, leading to another mega move, this time to PSG.
Nani
Current club: Adana Demirspor
A key figure in Portugal’s historic victory, Nani was on the move shortly after the tournament, swapping Fenerbahce for Valencia. His new club lurched from one crisis to another before stabilising while Nani endured a stop-start campaign before moving on to Lazio in the summer on loan. But his year would not improve as he started just two Serie A games. A return to Sporting CP followed but Nani then turned to MLS with Orlando City. He spent two years stateside, before embarking on a tour of the globe that has included spells at Venezia, Melbourne Victory and now Adana Demirspor in Turkey.
Rafa Silva
Current club: Benfica
Rafa Silva went from being the big fish in a small pond at Braga to a small fish in a big one at Benfica. Injuries held Rafa back but he still ended his first season with a Primeira Liga winners medal. Rafa has since bounced back from the injury problems and is one of Benfica’s most important players.
Eliseu
Current club: Retired
Being restricted to a backup role in the Benfica squad, Eliseu has struggled for game time in the two seasons following Euro 2016, before retiring in 2018.
Ricardo Quaresma
Current club: Free agent
The unmistakable Ricardo Quaresma was an influential player for Portugal in that summer and replicated his form at club level with Besiktas. He played an important role as they won the Turkish Super Lig for the second year running but failed to add another trophy to his cabinet before joining Kasimpasa in 2019 and then Vitoria Guimaraes in 2020. He is currently without a club.
Cedric Soares
Current club: Arsenal
Cedric isn’t the flashiest full back but he is certainly reliable, being a consistent presence on the Southampton right flank and eventually earning a move to Arsenal — first on loan and then permanently.
Eduardo
Club: Retired
Signed as cover to Thibaut Courtois and Asmir Begovic — and later Willy Caballero — Eduardo didn’t have a look-in during his two-year spell at Chelsea. Spent a season on loan at Vitesse before joining Braga permanently. He has since retired at the age of 37.
Adrien Silva
Current club: Free agent
Following a good season with Sporting, Adrien Silva agreed a deal to move to Leicester. However, he was unable to play until January 2018 after his paperwork was filed 14 seconds after the 11pm deadline on August 31.
Once he was able to play, Silva failed to impress and has since had spells with Sampdoria and Al Wahda.
