World Cup 2026: Meet the Cape Verde player called-up via LinkedIn
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By Ayobami Okerinde
Cape Verde produced one of the biggest surprises of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday after holding former champions Spain to a goalless draw in their opening Group H match.
Despite facing 23 shots and just having just 38 per cent of ball possession, the World Cup debutants stood firm to earn a valuable point and boost their hopes of reaching the knockout stage.
At the heart of that resilient defensive display was defender Roberto Lopes, whose journey to the World Cup and the Cape Verde national team began on LinkedIn.
Born in Ireland to a Cape Verdean father and an Irish mother, Lopez has spent his entire professional career in Ireland. He started his youth career at Lourdes Celtic and made his senior debut for Bohemians before moving to Shamrock Rovers, where he currently plays. At the international level, he represented Ireland U-19.
Speaking with Reuters before the World Cup, Lopez explained he received a message from the football association on LinkedIn but ignored it for 9 months, as it was written in Portuguese, which he didn’t understand.
“Nine months later they messaged me back in English asking if I had thought about the proposal, and it was only then that I did what I should have done originally and Google-translated the original message asking if I would be interested in declaring for Cape Verde.
“It was a weird angle to come at (via LinkedIn); it was explained to me afterwards that they had difficulty contacting my club, but when I saw the opportunity was there in front of me, I was 100% behind it from the minute one, and we got working on getting all the necessary documentation across.”
Lopez eventually made his debut for Cape Verde in 2019 in a 2-0 over Togo, becoming a key figure in the team’s defence, helping the Blue Sharks qualify for their first-ever World Cup.
He noted that Cape Verde, which is one of the smallest countries to qualify for the World Cup, hopes to make it out of the group stage that consists of Spain, Saudi Arabia and Urugua.
“I think we have to try and get out of the group; that has to be the goal. You can’t really say you want to get to the final; I think the first hurdle is trying to get out of your group, trying to stay there a bit longer,” he said.
“We know it will be difficult; we’re in a tough group, but we have to believe we can do it – we got here on merit, and we have to be competitive now.”
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