What would constitute success for Cape Verde?
Cape Verde qualified for its first major football tournament, namely AFCON, in 2013, and advanced to the quarter-finals. This is a team which plays with a fearless mentality. Qualification is already a monumental moment for the country; but they would not be at the World Cup just to make up numbers.
The team is likely to take it match by match, hoping to fight their way through, and even though a group-stage exit would not be considered a complete failure, success would be the players playing to the best of their abilities and giving opposition sides tough games.
Whether they exit in the group stage or knockout stages, success will be based on how the team played and how the players represented their country.
Who’s the player we most need to know about?
Logan Costa of Villarreal (pictured). Born in France, he played for France at youth level before switching to play for Cape Verde in 2022. He has been pivotal for the national team since making his debut.
Costa is very composed and comfortable with the ball at his feet and possesses a very good passing range, whether line-breaking passes or long balls forward.
He also reads the game very well and only commits himself to tackling when needed.
After a breakthrough season with Toulouse in 2023, he led Cape Verde to AFCON, where he was one of the most impressive centre-backs at the tournament, earning himself a move to Villarreal in Spain.
However, he suffered an ACL injury last season and hasn’t played football since May 2025.
Despite being injured, he travelled to Cape Verde on crutches to join his teammates and witnessed them qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
He is still only 24 years old, and a great World Cup could potentially see him rise higher in his career.
What is the dream draw for Cape Verde?
Cape Verde has a huge community in the United States. The number of people of Cape Verdean descent in the USA is even higher than the population still living on the island of Cape Verde. For that reason, the ideal option would be to play most matches in the U.S.
The current population of Cape Verde originated from a mix of West African slaves and Portuguese settlers, so the people trace their bloodline to Portugal, however they were also colonised by the Portuguese, so playing Portugal at the World Cup would bring up mixed feelings.
Matches against Australia and Panama would be ideal, while avoiding Spain, Japan and Norway would boost their chances.
