Cader value at Level von Tah
© Imago
What has Football Dwar Cape Verde ahead of the four -time world champions Germany and Italy? “A carefree autumn and a safe World Cup ticket for 2026” could soon be the answer. What sounds like a joke should become a reality in the coming days. The island state, which is about 570 kilometers west of the coast of West Africa, has as many inhabitants as Duisburg and is only somewhat larger than the Saarland, a victory is still missing to qualify for a World Cup for the first time.
It is a premiere that is longed for in the sunny holiday home with great euphoria. Because even the penultimate step, a 1-0 against the favorite Cameroon, fans fully freaked out in the national stadium of the capital Praia in September. Pendant stormed the field with the final whistle and-partly with burning Bengalo torches in hand-ran uncontrollably over the lawn. The scenery was like a big title party.
While Germany and Italy threaten complicated computing games and even a detour via the playoffs in spring 2026, the calculation for Cape Verde is simple: a victory in Libya on Wednesday (3 p.m.) and the ticket for the tournament with 48 teams for the first time in XXL format is booked. With a mistake there will be a second chance in the home game against the Eswatini, which has so far been winless. The World Cup participation can hardly be taken away from the CAP resorts. At the latest then there should be a state of emergency on the nine inhabited islands of the state. With Uzbekistan and Jordan, other outsiders have already solved the World Cup ticket.
“You can see how happy, proud and excited all the people are here. Hopefully we can make them a little more proud next week,” said Cape Verdes defender Steven Moreira (31), who with his Blue Sharks (Blue Haie) absolutely wants to travel to the tournament in the USA, to Mexico and Canada. The experienced right -back knows football in America, and has been playing in the MLS located there for four years at Columbus Crew, where he became champion in 2023.
The most valuable is missing after the cruciate ligament tear-trio with Germany past
Cape Verde provides an ensemble of the predominantly unknown, which in its current line-up has a market value of the Bavaria and DFB defender Jonathan Tah (29). It is estimated at 30 million euros, the entire national team around the most valuable professionals Kevin Lenini (28, Krasnodar) and Wagner Pina (22, trabzonspor) is EUR 29.25 million. Players known from Germany are also there: full-back Sidny Cabral (24, Estrela Amadora) played 102 times for Viktoria Köln and Rot-Weiß Erfurt, foreign striker Garry Rodrigues (34, Apollon Limassol), who was also active for Galatasaray and Fenerbahce in 2010/11 at Rostocker FC and Midfield man Jamiro Monteiro (31, PEC Zwolle) was under contract with Anker Wismar from 2012 to 2014.
Like many African countries, Cape also bangs many footballers for the national team who were not born on the archipelago, but have ancestors from there. Rodrigues originally comes from Rotterdam and defender Roberto Lopes (33, Shamrock Rovers) from Ireland. In another country he has never played football at club levels. “When you grow up, you are always aware of the nonsense SMS or calls, and I thought it was spam,” he said in August in an interview with “FIFA.com” when he told about the contact with his father’s home country. The national player has been the defense line from Dublin since 2020, and he still played for Ireland until the U19.
Lopes said: “After I received the call, I took the opportunity to deal intensively with my origin. Now I can no longer stop talking about it. It is also great for my father. He is very proud that people know where he comes from. He thinks it’s great.” His grandfather still lives there and works on his farm. “The whole family is just very proud. I met a lot of my cousins there and that’s really moving. Every time I return, I feel more than a cape.”
Although former football greats like the Swede Henrik Larsson or France Patrick Vieira, they have ancestors in the state – they never played for Cape Verde. The biggest name of today’s team is Logan Costa, a regular at Spanish FC Villarreal, with a market value of 18 million euros. Costa is 1.90 meters tall and is currently missing due to a cruciate ligament tear suffered in July. The 24 -year -old defense chief should be back by the World Cup (June 11 to July 19, 2026).
Cape, like Haiti or Trinidad & Tobago
Measured by the population, Cape Verde could become the second smallest participant in the World Cup history-to Iceland, which debuted in Russia in 2018. “It’s incredible. The mood is crazy,” said Moreira. He assumes that a World Cup qualification could have a positive effect on the islands, even apart from sport. “Everything would change. More people will come and see how beautiful the country is,” he said.
Like 1974 Haiti, 1998 Jamaica or 2006 Angola and Trinidad & Tobago, Cape Verde could become the feel -good history of an outsider at the most important event of world football. Three World Cup preliminary round games in imposing arenas would be guaranteed with successful qualifications.
And Pedro Leitão Brito, artist name Bubista, would finally rise to the national football legend. As a national coach, he has been responsible for the fortunes since January 2020. Now the preliminary coronation is waiting. “I’ve been dreaming of winning the Africa Cup for a long time and qualifying for the World Cup,” said Bubista. The former international and captain can now realize one of the two dreams.