Cape Verde qualified for the football World Cup for the first time in its history. The African national team, coached by the 55-year-old Pedro Leitao Brito aka Bubista, is, for now, the third overall rookie in the world championship together withUzbekistan by Fabio Cannavaro and to Jordan. By taking the pass for the World Cup scheduled in Canada, Mexico and the United States in the summer of 2026 by beating theEswatinii Tubarões azuis (“blue sharks”, so nicknamed because of the fearsome aquatic predators that wallow in the waters of the islands off the Atlantic Ocean, blue due to the color of their shirts), have set a record (also touching another). Let’s find out what they are and how Cape Verde managed to write the history of football.
Where is Cape Verde and the small country’s records at the 2026 World Cup
THE’Cape Verde archipelago is located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 570 kilometers off the coast of Senegalin West Africa. It is an archipelago of volcanic origin made up of 10 major islands and several smaller islets.
It’s about the Smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup in terms of geographical area (the archipelago made up of 10 islands occupies 4,033 km²) ahead of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
And it’s also the second smallest by number of inhabitants (525,000 inhabitants according to the latest data from the World Bank): the record is held by Iceland which accomplished this feat in 2018, when the participants in the World Cup were only 32 and not 48 like the next edition.
How the African archipelago qualified for the 2026 World Cup
Cape Verde, currently at 73° place in the Fifa ranking, it is up to this point sixth qualified African selection in addition to Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia (since the 2026 World Cup, the places available for the African national teams have gone from 5 to 9 thanks to the new expanded format). The Blue Sharks finished first in group D thanks to a string of five consecutive victories, including the 1-0 at home against Cameroon, the big favorite on the eve, and they completed the job on Monday against Eswatini in front of their home fans. This is the seventh attempt, since they tried in 2002, for the edition in Japan and South Korea, without success.
In truth, the Cape Verdeans had qualified for the play-offs for Brazil 2014but the Federation was officially sanctioned by FIFA for having fielded the suspended Fernando Varela in the decisive match, Tunisia-Cape Verde 0-2, on 7 September 2013. The highest international body decreed the awarding of the 3-0 victory to the Tunisian national team, putting an end to Cape Verde’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup and sending the Tunisians to play in the qualifying play-offs in place of the Cape Verdeans.
Football and other sports, what made Cape Verde stand out
Remaining in football, in its history Cape Verde has only managed to qualify for the final phase on four occasions African Cupreaching the quarter-finals in 2013 and 2023 as the maximum goal (in the one that starts on December 21st, however, he will not be there). Only one trophy appears in his showcase, the Amilcar Cabral Cup (a tournament between West African national teams played between 1979 and 2007) won in 2000 in the final against Senegal.
The roster that qualified for the World Cup also includes some faces known to Italian football, such as Libramentoon loan from Verona to Casa Pia, scorer of the decisive goal against Cameroon, e Jovane Cabralformer Lazio and Salernitana. And there has been no shortage of champions of Cape Verdean origin in history, who however chose other national teams. On everyone Dwarvesformer Portuguese international and former Manchester United player who also joined Lazio, o Gelson Fernandesformer Manchester City (some appearances in Serie A with Chievo and Udinese) who was born in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, but chose to play for Switzerland. Patrick Vieiraformer French international, now coach of Genoa, was born in Senegal from a community in Cape Verde, while Henrik Larssona former Swedish international, has a father originally from Cape Verde.
The football feat of the Blue Sharks adds to another recent sporting success, namely the bronze in flyweight conquered a Paris 2024 from the boxer David Pina, first Olympic medal in the country’s history. Among the most famous sportsmen of Cape Verde there is also the basketball player Walter Tavares of Real Madrid who won the Spanish championship 5 times and the Euroleague twice with the Los Blancos shirt, after playing a few years in the NBA.
