Vozinha

Cape Verde is a chain of ten volcanic islands off the West African coast, home to barely half a million people. It has no business competing with footballing nations many times its size — and yet here are the Blue Sharks, on the edge of something that would have seemed impossible a generation ago.

Vozinha, 40 years old and 85 caps into his international career, is the elder statesman who has been there for the whole climb, the goalkeeper and quiet leader of a squad punching far above the weight of its tiny homeland.

A first-ever World Cup for Cape Verde would be one of the great stories of 2026 — proof that the tournament still has room for fairytales, and that a veteran keeper from a half-million-strong island can stand on the same stage as the giants of the game.