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Baía had his senior debut on 19 December 1990 in a 1–0 friendly win over the United States at the age of 21. He went on to make 80 appearances for the national team until 2002, playing in all the games in UEFA Euro 1996 and 2000 (except one in the latter, as Portugal was already qualified) and in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In Euro 2000, he stopped Arif Erdem’s penalty in the 2–0 defeat of Turkey in the quarterfinals. After the failure in the 2002 World Cup, coach António Oliveira was sacked when he refused to quit. Luiz Felipe Scolari was hired as his replacement and Baía, a stalwart for the past ten years with a record of caps in his position, was ditched.

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Nuno Gomes represented Portugal at every level, earning 143 caps all categories comprised and scoring at an excellent rate overall. He helped the under-20s finish third in the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship by netting four goals in as many games, including two in the third-place game against Spain; the following year he appeared at the 1996 Summer Olympics, helping to an eventual fourth place. Gomes made his senior international debut at 19, in a 1996 friendly against France. He scored his first senior international goal in Portugal’s opening match at the UEFA Euro 2000, marking his fourth start with the winner as the side came from two goals down to beat England 3–2. He would finish the competition with four goals as the national team reached the last four, but earned a seven-month international ban after pushing referee Günter Benkö following the semi-final defeat by France, in which he had netted the opening goal; he was selected to the UEFA team of the tournament. With seven goals in only six matches, Gomes helped Portugal qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup – this included a four-goal performance in a 7–1 away win against Andorra. He would struggle to hold a starting place in the finals in South Korea and Japan, only appearing twice as a substitute; on 19 November 2003 he scored his second hat-trick, in only 21 minutes of play against Kuwait. Things went better for Gomes at Euro 2004, where he played each game and, after coming on as a half-time substitute, scored the winning goal against Spain to send the hosts through to the quarter-finals. He was often injured during the nation’s 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, only managing to play four games, with one goal; he found limited time at the final stages and only made two appearances, but managed to find the back of the net with a header against hosts Germany in the third-place game, a 1–3 defeat. After the retirement of Pauleta, Gomes was expected to become his successor in the striker role. He played ten matches and scored three times in Euro 2008’s qualifying campaign, captained Portugal at the finals and scored against Germany in the quarter-finals, thus becoming the fourth player to score at three straight European Championships. After the appointment of Carlos Queiroz as coach, Gomes was constantly left out of the squad due to his lack of minutes at his club. During the 2010 World Cup qualification, he only took part in four out of twelve matches, all as a substitute, with Liédson and Hugo Almeida being preferred; he was later on left out of the 23-men squad for the final stages in South Africa, this being the first time the player was left out of a major tournament.On 7 October 2011, after more than two years out of international play, 35-year-old Gomes replaced Hélder Postiga in the last minute of a 5–3 home win against Iceland for the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Four days later, he played against Denmark in what was his 79th and last full international appearance; due to little playing time for his club in 2011–12, he was left out of Paulo Bento’s squad for the finals in Poland and Ukraine.