Fans in Toronto love the Portuguese national team and the squad is returning the adoration

Fans in Toronto love the Portuguese national team and the squad is returning the adoration

A crowd gathered at Centennial Park Saturday to wave goodbye to the team

Portugal fans are overjoyed about the squad’s four day-stay in Toronto and it seems the team, too, loves the city.

Jessica Gomes was among the fans who gathered at Centennial Park Saturday to watch the team's last training session in the city and to catch a glimpse of Portugal’s captain, Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It's his last day, so we want to send him off with as much good luck [as possible],” she said. “Tensions have been high, emotions are high, but we're super excited.”

Tom Tavares and Gilda Beriu were also in the crowd contained behind barricades at the park.

“When the bus arrived, as they were leaving the bus, we caught the back of his head and the backpack,” she said. “It's amazing, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Beriu added Ronaldo is one of their son’s heroes, which is why it was so important for them to be at the park Saturday.

“If you look around here, you see the amount of people that have come out to see one team. But Canada is more than just one team, right? We see all the communities come together and it's been great,” she said.

But it isn’t just the fans who are showcasing the love. Players alike say they love Toronto.

'It seemed like we were in Portugal,' player says

At a news conference Saturday, Portuguese right-back Nélson Semedo told reporters he had the chance to explore the city on his day off.

“It was nice to see a lot of Portuguese people as well, a big community here,” he said. “We [have been] receiving a lot of love here at the training ground, at the hotel as well. So yeah, we enjoyed [it] a lot.”

Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes also told reporters it was great for the team to feel the support ahead of the team’s match against Croatia on Thursday.

“It's not normal, it seemed like we were in Portugal, but we weren't,” he said in Portuguese, which CBC Toronto has translated to English. “The fans give us an enormous amount of support and I think that's very important for us. We felt comfortable."

At a news conference Thursday after the game, Portuguese head coach Roberto Martínez had already said the venue and atmosphere were “amazing.”

“Congratulations to everybody, to the organizers, to everybody who was involved,” he said. “The welcoming that we had was incredible … a wonderful feel.”

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Martinez praised the training ground’s grass and its changerooms, saying they had the same feel as “old-fashion Premier League grounds.”

“I think it’s a shame that there are no more games here in Toronto, because we really enjoyed it,” he said. “You see the safety for the fans, a wonderful, wonderful supported game … I think it was an incredible, incredible spectacle for football.”

'Like serving old friends,' restaurant owner says

Even the player’s family members showed their love for Toronto. Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, and sister, Katia Aveiro, visited Mercado Restaurant, located at 682 Caledonia Rd., ahead of Thursday’s game.

The restaurant’s owner Carlos Oliveira said a mutual friend got in contact with him, asking if he had space to host Ronaldo’s family. He says the answer was an easy, and obvious, yes.

“It was that simple. And it was just unreal,” he told CBC Toronto Saturday.

Oliveira added Dolores was so nervous for the game, she told him she didn’t know if she was going to be able to eat anything.

“This is a real woman, being real, showing that she's in high levels of anxiety and stress. And it was incredible,” he said. “I was expecting a little bit more pretentious people … but it was like serving old friends.”

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Portugal fans in Toronto celebrate 2-1 win over Croatia

The Portuguese national team arrived in Toronto shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Over the following four days, thousands gathered at Toronto Pearson Airport, Centennial Park, Stanley Park, community centres, meet-and-greets, and even the hotel where the team was staying to welcome the squad to Toronto.

Portugal defeats Croatia 2-1 after wild 2nd half of soccer in Toronto

The Portuguese team left Toronto Saturday afternoon and is headed to Dallas, Texas for their game against Spain on Monday. They’ll take with them the memories of fans who gathered for hours to show their support for the team.

Toronto's Portugal fans will remember exactly where they were when the Portuguese squad and Cristiano Ronaldo came to town.

Gabriela Silva Ponte has been with CBC Toronto since January 2025. Currently, she works as a web writer, but has previously taken on a variety of reporting roles in ethnic media newsrooms and at Toronto Metropolitan University. Gabriela graduated from TMU with a Bachelor of Journalism. You can reach her at gabriela.silva.ponte@cbc.ca.