Cricket in Portugal dates back to the Peninsular War of 1809–1814, when English troops were encamped in Lisbon.

A game between sides from Porto and Lisbon has been played almost every year since 1861.

[5] The game was confined, however, to the expatriate community, particularly the port wine manufacturers of Porto, until events in 1974 gave Portuguese cricket an unexpected boost.

The Carnation Revolution led to many Portuguese citizens returning from their former overseas province of Goa, and the subsequent independence of Mozambique brought many Portuguese citizens back, bringing cricket with them.

Other Portuguese citizens living in Portugal's former African overseas provinces moved to Rhodesia and South Africa, where their children were absorbed into the sporting cultures of those countries, and the subsequent socio-political changes there led to them bringing their love of cricket back to Portugal.

Their first international engagement was in the European Nations Cup in Switzerland in 1997, where they reached the semi-finals.

They competed in that tournament's successor, the ECC Trophy in 1999, finishing as runners up and qualifying for Division Two of the European Championship in 2000.

They again played in the ECC Trophy in 2001, this time winning the tournament, again qualifying for Division Two of the European Championship in 2002.

In that match Portugal made a 381/3 batting first and their players TG Rankine and Intesab Mehdi has scored two fine innings of 173 and 81*.

Because of the unexpected defeat against France, Portugal was knocked out from the semi-final of The European Nations Cup 1997.

[6] In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members.

Most recently, the National League has been contested by Lisbon-based teams and two new clubs – one from the Algarve and one from Almoster.