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: From 13:00 GMT, we’ll have the entire build-up on Al Jazeera Sport before our live text commentary stream.
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Portugal’s UEFA qualifying match against Armenia on Saturday will be their first of its kind since the passing of their forward, Diogo Jota, who will represent them in the world cup.
Portugal’s midfielder Ruben Neves, who died in July, will wear the number 21 jersey of his late friend Jota during games for the country and has a tattoo on his left calf in his honor.
At a ceremony held at Portugal’s training facility late on Tuesday in preparation for the team’s World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Hungary, Neves said, “I and the entire national team will do everything we can to keep Diogo with us, on our team.” The other team in Group F is the Republic of Ireland.
Jota and Andre Silva were killed in a car accident on July 3rd.
Neves, who plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, was close to Jota at the ceremony, which included the recently appointed prime minister, president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of Portugal, and Cristiano Ronaldo. They also played together at the English club Wolverhampton and Portugal.
Jota, who was wearing the number 21, was pictured embracing him in a video that the Portuguese federation posted on X of Neves.
𝗡𝗮𝗱𝗮 𝗡𝗼𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗿. Diogo Jota, por ti, pic twitter.com/Qy56zijvNP
Jorge Costa, a former Portugal international who died last month of cardiac arrest, was also the subject of Tuesday’s ceremony.
Jota and Costa were described as “men who loved football, loved their country, loved their national team, men who courageously and devoted their lives to defend the colors of our flag,” according to Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation.
Jota and Costa were given medals that their families accepted and were given as Commanders of the Order of Merit following their posthumous honor.
Another nod to Jota’s memory, the federation claimed the squad consisted of “23 (+ 1)” players.
Portugal hasn’t yet qualified for the World Cup, so why?
Due to the accomplishments of some of the top seeds in the 2025 Nations League, which culminated in June, Portugal and 23 other teams are only currently enrolled in the World Cup qualifying program.
In the 2025 final, Portugal won the title of champion after beating Spain 5-3 on penalties.
Spain defeated France in the semifinal, while Portugal defeated Germany. The rest of the qualifiers for the later stages of that competition are currently only qualifying for the World Cup.
Head-to-head
With four wins and two draws already recorded in the countries’ previous meetings, this is their seventh meeting.
The Portuguese won the last meeting 3-2 in Armenia during a Euro qualifying match in 2015.
News from the Armenian team
Norberto Briasco misses out due to a family issue, while Narek Grigoryan is hurt.
However, Grant-Leon Ranos and Lucas Zelarayan are both back in the first-team plans.
news from the Portugal team
Diogo Dalot has been forced to withdraw due to a muscle issue, while Rafael Leao is out with a calf injury.
In the previous encounter between the two teams, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in five goals against Armenia, including a hat-trick.
Armenia had a starting lineup in mind.
Cancarevic, Hovhannisyan, Mkrtchyan, Arutyunyan, Muradyan, Tiknizyan, Iwu, Dashyan, Bichakhchyan, Zelarayan, Barseghyan, and others
Portugal guessed the starting lineup.
Source: Aljazeera
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