Cape Verde Reaches First World Cup After Recruiting Players on LinkedIn

Cape Verde has qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history, becoming the third-smallest nation ever to reach the tournament. The archipelago, with about 600,000 residents, specifically 593,139, is the third-smallest population in Africa and far smaller than Jerusalem by comparison. Before this, Iceland held the record for the smallest qualifying nation in 2018, and Paraguay was the only smaller side to appear at the first World Cup in 1930.

The team, led by coach Bubista, achieved the feat by finishing ahead of Cameroon in its qualifying group. Bubista, a former player with only two appearances in Spain’s second division in the 1990s, has transformed the national team since taking over in 2020. He has won 31 of his 64 matches in charge, a 48% win rate, an extraordinary figure for a country that must compete against powers such as Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

A key part of the strategy was recruiting players from Europe with Cape Verdean roots, including footballers born or raised in the Netherlands, Portugal, France, England and the United States. Among the familiar names to Israeli readers are Helio Varela of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Aylson and Heriberto Tavares, who were part of the qualifying campaign, and former Hapoel Be'er Sheva defender Carlos Ponck, who made 22 appearances for Cape Verde until 2022.

One of the most unusual stories is that of Robbie Lopes, born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Cape Verdean father. Bubista first contacted him six years ago through LinkedIn, where Lopes had barely used his profile. He ignored the message for nine months, assuming it was spam, until the coach wrote again and Lopes, using Google Translate, realized it was a genuine invitation. He accepted immediately, later accumulating 39 caps for Cape Verde after previously making only one appearance for Ireland’s youth team. Cape Verde now opens its World Cup campaign against Spain and later faces Uruguay, with hopes mainly focused on avoiding embarrassment and proving it belongs.