The Portugal national football team, known as the Seleção das Quinas, wears a crest derived directly from the coat of arms of Portugal. The badge on the players’ shirts is the emblem of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), and it has remained unchanged for decades, despite a separate corporate rebrand of the federation in July 2026.
Design and History
The crest worn by the Portugal national team is the historical national symbol, featuring a white shield with five small blue shields (quinas) arranged in a cross, each containing five white bezants. The shield is set over a gold armillary sphere, an astronomical navigation instrument that honors Portugal’s Age of Discoveries.[1] The badge predates the football team by centuries, as it borrows from the heraldic system of Portugal that took shape in the Middle Ages.[2]
On 1 July 2026, the FPF unveiled a new institutional logo on its website, which sparked confusion among fans who believed the national team’s crest would change during the 2026 World Cup.[3] The new mark is a minimalist interpretation of the federation’s previous symbol, with simpler, more rounded lines and fewer details, designed to better suit modern digital communication standards.[4] The FPF clarified that the graphic update concerns exclusively the corporate and business visual identity of the federation, as part of a process of “harmonization and graphic coherence” among the entities that make up the FPF Business universe.[5]
The federation was emphatic that no change to the national team’s emblem was ever considered: “The symbol that our players wear on their chest with pride represents an entire nation and is, and will continue to be, untouchable.”[6] Portugal continued to play in the 2026 World Cup with the same historical symbol on their official shirts.[7]
Meaning and Symbolism
The five blue shields, or quinas, are the origin of the team’s nickname, “Seleção das Quinas.” According to the Legend of Ourique, formulated in the 15th century, King Afonso Henriques incorporated the five blue escutcheons in the shape of a cross into his coat of arms in memory of the five Moorish kings defeated at the Battle of Ourique in 1139, following a vision of Christ on the cross.[8] The white bezants inside each shield originally numbered thirty, representing the thirty pieces of silver received by Judas, but were later reduced to five, which came to symbolize the five wounds of Christ.[8]
The armillary sphere that forms the golden background of the crest pays homage to the Portuguese navigators who explored the world during the Age of Discoveries.[1]
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