Cape Verde Stuns Spain and Makes World Cup History After Recruiting via LinkedIn

Cape Verde has qualified for its first-ever World Cup and opened the tournament with a remarkable 0-0 draw against Spain. The result made the island nation, with just 593,139 residents, the third-smallest country ever to appear at a World Cup, after overtaking Curaçao in the all-time size ranking.

The team, coached by Bubista since 2020, also won its qualifying group ahead of Cameroon, one of Africa’s traditional powers. Bubista, a former player with only two second-division appearances in Spain in the 1990s, has transformed the national team by building it around diaspora players raised or born in countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal, France, England and the United States.

Among the players with links to Israeli football are Dailson and Heriberto Tavares, who were involved in qualifying while playing for Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Netanya, and Helio Varela of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Former Hapoel Be'er Sheva defender Carlos Fónseca also made 22 appearances for Cape Verde before 2022.

The article highlights an unusual recruitment method, with some players discovered through LinkedIn. Dublin-born Roberto Lopes, whose mother is Irish and father is from Cape Verde, said he ignored a message for nine months before realizing it was genuine. “I created the LinkedIn profile when I was at university, but I hardly used it. One day I got a message in Portuguese, and I thought it was spam,” he said. After checking with Google Translate, he accepted the invitation and has since made 39 senior appearances. Cape Verde now turns to its next match against Uruguay.