The wristbands were a personal gift from Portugal's Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, following a meeting with the team before they departed for the tournament. Midfielder Vitinha said the bands were designed specifically to meet FIFA's on-pitch regulations and feature the names of all squad players alongside Jota's name.
Basically, the story of the wristband is, when we went to meet with the Prime Minister, he offered us this wristband. They made sure that it was a wristband that we could wear on the pitch. It has all the specifics for us to be able to enter the pitch with it, with the name of all the players plus the special name of Diogo Jota. He let us choose if we wanted to use it or not, how we use it, during the day or during the match. We received it with a lot of affection and we chose to use it.
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has spoken about the impact Jota's legacy has had on the group's mental preparation. Jota, who earned 49 caps and scored 14 goals for his country and previously played for Liverpool was a vital part of the dressing room culture. Martinez believes the memory of the former forward will provide energy through the difficult moments of a World Cup campaign.
Diogo is our light. Diogo is our reference of wanting to do or needing to do what his dream was, which was winning titles for Portugal, like he did winning the Nations League. He was a big part of what we built in the dressing room. He wanted to win the World Cup so it becomes a bit of a responsibility, an example, because Diogo was the pure example of believing in whatever could be possible, always with that tenacity, always finding the answer in the right moment in the difficult moment in the game.
Despite the emotional weight carrying the squad forward, Vitinha stressed Portugal must stay humble as they look to improve on their quarter-final finish from Qatar four years ago. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder pushed back on the idea that Portugal are tournament favourites.
I wouldn't say we're the favourites, we have great quality and capacity to advance far in the tournament. We know the right path is to be humble and play the right game. We have the talent, all we need is the technical and tactical aspects.
The squad has been training in Miami to acclimatise to North American conditions before their first match on Wednesday. Vitinha acknowledged that the three-country format of the 2026 World Cup presents logistical challenges, including vast travel distances and varying climates across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, but stressed Portugal would offer no excuses regardless of venue or weather.
