The island nation, situated off the African coast, turns into the second-smallest nation to qualify for soccer’s international showpiece.
Printed On 14 Oct 2025
Cape Verde certified for the FIFA 2026 World Cup on Monday, beating Eswatini 3-0 of their final group match to high the standings forward of Cameroon and full a fairytale marketing campaign.
The wind-swept West African archipelago overcame first-half nerves to win within the capital, Praia, with second-half objectives from Dailon Livramento, Willy Semedo and veteran Stopira, and ebook a first-ever look on the finals.
Really useful Tales
record of 4 gadgetsfinish of record
They began two factors forward of Cameroon, whose eight earlier World Cup closing appearances are probably the most by an African nation. Cape Verde completed Group D on 23 factors, 4 forward of Cameroon, who have been held at house to a goalless draw by Angola.
Cape Verde hardly ever performed worldwide soccer some 25 years in the past, however now heads to subsequent 12 months’s finals in North America as one of many 9 African representatives.
They be a part of Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Ghana, which have certified already.
Livramento took benefit of Eswatini’s failure to clear to steer house the ball from shut vary three minutes into the second half, whereas Semedo additionally had a tap-in for the second six minutes later.
Stopira, 37, had solely come on as a late substitute as an acknowledgement of his lengthy service with the workforce since 2008, and put a cherry on the cake with a stoppage-time purpose.
The island’s 600,000 inhabitants had been given the time off to assist their workforce, however there was little to cheer in a tentative first half earlier than Livramento scored. After that, the celebrations couldn’t be contained.
Cape Verde is the second-smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup after Iceland, which competed in Russia in 2018.
Cameroon will seemingly advance to the playoffs for the 4 greatest runners-up throughout the 9 African qualifying teams, however have been jeered off in Yaounde after failing to beat Angola, whose 39-year-old goalkeeper, Hugo Marques, made a number of telling stops.
