sensation in Africa
Island nation qualifies for the World Cup for the first time
October 13, 2025 – 8:21 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The sensation is perfect: the Cape Verde national team is going to the World Cup. The island nation is the second smallest country to ever take part in the tournament.
The island nation of Cape Verde has qualified for the World Cup for the first time. With a 3-0 (0-0) win against Eswatini on the last matchday of the African World Cup qualification, the team of national coach Pedro Leitão Brito – known as Bubista – secured their ticket to the 2026 finals.
Dailon Livramento (48th minute), Willy Semedo (54th) and Stopira (90th + 1) scored the decisive goals. Cape Verde had already laid the foundation for their historic success in September with a 1-0 win against the favored Cameroon.
The 2026 World Cup will take place from June 11th to July 19th in the USA, Canada and Mexico and will be held for the first time with 48 nations. Cape Verde is the third debutant at the upcoming tournament after Uzbekistan and Jordan.
In terms of population (around 520,000), Cape Verde will be the second smallest World Cup participant in history – only Iceland, which took part in Russia in 2018, is even smaller (just over 400,000). Cape Verde is now guaranteed three preliminary round games on the big World Cup stage.
In addition to the three hosts USA, Canada and Mexico, 19 other nations have been confirmed for the 2026 tournament. From Asia, Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan have bought their tickets. In Africa these are Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and Cape Verde.
From South America, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay are traveling to the finals. New Zealand has prevailed in Oceania. This means that 22 of the 48 starting places have been taken – 26 places are still open.