António Oliveira and his Portugal stars took early control of their Euro '96 qualifying group and never looked back. During the 1995 calender year group minnows like Latvia and Liechtenstein were easily dispatched thanks to the considerable firepower players like Figo, Rui Costa, Domingos, Cadete and Paulo Alves brought, but draws with Austria and Northern Ireland allowed the Republic of Ireland to close in.

The pair met in Lisbon in November of that year and Portugal scored three unanswered second-half goals to comfortably secure top spot and qualification for the tournament in England the following year.