On Day 5 of the 2026 World Cup, Cape Verde produced one of the tournament’s biggest shocks by drawing 0-0 with Spain, but the result sits atop an even stranger football story. The tiny island nation of about 500,000 people reached this stage after years of improvised squad-building, including recruiting players through LinkedIn. One of those finds, defender Roberto Lopes, became a key part of the team after an initial message from coach Rui Aguas went unanswered for nine months.
Aguas, now in his second spell as Cape Verde coach, sent Lopes a Portuguese message via LinkedIn in 2019, looking for players with Cape Verdean roots. Lopes, born and playing in Dublin, thought it was spam until he translated it and realized it was genuine. He had only one appearance for Ireland’s youth team, and after joining Cape Verde he initially struggled with language issues, making just one appearance in his first two years. Since 2021, however, he has become a central defender for the national side and started against Spain.
The other headline name is goalkeeper Vozinha, who at 40 became the oldest player ever to make a debut in a tournament and keep a clean sheet. He has 89 caps for Cape Verde, but his route to international recognition ran through clubs in Cape Verde, Angola, Moldova, Cyprus, Slovakia and Portugal before his current club, Chaves. As a child, he was small and often ran to his grandfather for comfort, which earned him the nickname “Grandfather,” a label that has taken on new meaning as he leads the team’s historic run.
During the match, broadcasters around the world praised Vozinha’s performance and urged viewers to follow his Instagram account. His follower count surged from a very small base to more than 5 million within hours, and he crossed 1 million while walking to the locker room, becoming a global social media sensation. Cape Verde’s next games are against Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, who drew 1-1 overnight, leaving the group wide open. Spain remain favorites, but with eight of the 12 third-place teams advancing, Cape Verde still has a realistic path to the knockout stage.
