Jorge Jesus's Portugal era begins against Wales in Nations League opener

A fresh start

Portugal host Wales on Thursday, 24 September, at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, opening their UEFA Nations League A, Group A4 campaign. Kick-off is at 7:45pm UK time (15:45 Brasília time — the same moment, according to Brazilian outlet ge). The match is being shown on several channels, including BBC platforms and Welsh-language S4C, as well as Brazil's sportv.

It is the first match for Portugal under new head coach Jorge Jesus, who took over from Roberto Martínez after the 2026 World Cup, where Portugal were eliminated by Spain in the round of 16 — Spain went on to win the tournament. Jesus has kept much of the World Cup squad: of the 25 players called up, only four — Samuel Soares, Nuno Tavares, João Palhinha and Fábio Silva — did not feature at the World Cup. Compared with the lineup that started against Spain, the only change is Rúben Neves coming in for João Neves, who drops to the bench. Gonçalo Inácio and Fábio Silva were left out of the 23-man squad for this game altogether.

Ronaldo returns "home"

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has a special history with Alvalade: at the stadium's opening match on 6 August 2003, against Manchester United, his performance convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him — a transfer that changed his career. He has scored 14 goals for Portugal at this venue and has 223 caps and 146 goals overall for his country. Wales coach Craig Bellamy, who faced Ronaldo five times in the Premier League during his own playing career, praised Ronaldo's stated ambition of reaching 1,000 career goals, while joking that he hopes the forward stays scoreless on Thursday. Bellamy also backed Jesus's appointment, saying his tactical qualities are exactly what Portugal's squad needs.

Lineups and context

Portugal's expected starting XI: Diogo Costa; João Cancelo, Rúben Dias, Renato Veiga, Nuno Mendes; Rúben Neves, Vitinha, Pedro Neto, Bruno Fernandes; João Félix and Cristiano Ronaldo (captain). Wales's expected lineup: Ward; Neco Williams, Ben Cabango, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Jay Dasilva; Jordan James, Joshua Sheehan, Ampadu; Koumas, Brooks and Brennan Johnson, with Ben Davies as captain.

Sources disagree on Wales's squad situation: Goal.com reports Wales arrived in Lisbon with a heavy injury list, missing Harry Wilson, Karl Darlow and Joe Rodon, while ge reports the opposite — that Harry Wilson and Jordan James have returned to the squad after missing June's friendlies. Cian Ashford received his first senior call-up.

Wales captain Ben Davies called the match a major test against one of Europe's leading sides — it is the first official meeting between the two nations since the Euro 2016 semi-final in Lyon. After facing Portugal, Wales travel to Copenhagen to play Denmark on Sunday, while at the same time as the Portugal-Wales match, group rivals Norway and Denmark meet in Oslo. Portugal are the defending Nations League champions.