Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira has been included in the Portugal squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Ferreira had been out with a long-term knee injury since January but returned in Chelsea's Carling Cup match last week and Queiroz has named the 30-year-old in his 22-man squad to face Hungary and Malta.

Nuno Assis and Cesar Peixoto also return to the squad.

"The set of players who are on this list gives me security," said Queiroz. "I am optimistic that we will meet our objectives which are to win the two games against Hungary and Malta.

"We have a good team, we have players full of belief, a fantastic team spirit and an extreme desire to achieve the ultimate goal which is to qualify for the World Cup."

Portugal play Hungary in the Estadio da Luz on October 10 before facing Malta in Guimaraes four days later.

Queiroz's team are third in Group One, five points behind leaders Denmark and two behind Sweden.

Squad: Beto (FC Porto), Eduardo (Braga), Patricio (Sporting Lisbon); Bosingwa (Chelsea); Bruno Alves (FC Porto), Ferreira (Chelsea), Peixoto (Benfica), Pepe (Real Madrid), Carvalho (Chelsea), Rolando (FC Porto); Deco (Chelsea), Duda (Malaga), Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon), Assis (Vitoria), Veloso (Sporting), Meireles (FC Porto), Tiago (Juventus); Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Liedson (Sporting Lisbon); Nani (Manchester Utd); Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Simao (Atletico Madrid)