Cape Verde national football team

The Cape Verde national football team (Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol de Cabo Verde) represents Cape Verde in men's international association football and is controlled by the Cape Verdean Football Federation. The team has never qualified for FIFA World Cups and The team has qualified for two tournaments of Africa Cup of Nations, 2013 and 2015, They made their first appearance in 2013 and The team also represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Cape Verde women's national football team.

Cape Verde
Nickname(s)Tubarões Azuis
(Blue Sharks)[1]
Crioulos (Creoles)
AssociationCape Verdean Football Federation
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationWAFU (West Africa)
Head coachJanito Carvalho
CaptainBabanco
Most capsBabanco (59)
Top scorerHéldon Ramos (15)[2]
Home stadiumEstádio Nacional de Cabo Verde
FIFA codeCPV
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current77
Highest27 (February 2014)
Lowest182 (April 2000)
First international
 Cape Verde 0–1 Angola 
(Cape Verde; 1978)
Biggest win
 Cape Verde 7–1 São Tomé and Príncipe 
(Praia, Cape Verde; 13 June 2015)
Biggest defeat
 Senegal 5–1 Cape Verde 
(Mali; 12 February 1981)
 Cape Verde 0–4 Ghana 
(Praia, Cape Verde; 8 October 2005)
 Guinea 4–0 Cape Verde 
(Conakry, Guinea; 9 September 2007)  Burkina Faso 4-0 Cape Verde  (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; 14 November 2017)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances2 (first in 2013)
Best resultQuarter-finals, 2013

History

Overview

The Cape Verde became independent from Portugal in 1975. The national team's first international was a 0–3 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in the 1979 Amílcar Cabral Cup.[3] Cape Verde's football association was formed in 1982, and joined FIFA in 1986.[4]

Cape Verdeans abroad, who are more numerous than the population of the islands themselves, are a major source of players for the national team. Most of Cape Verde's current international footballers play outside Cape Verde (mainly in Europe, but also in Asia), and some were born outside the islands.[5]

Several players of Cape Verdean origin have chosen to play for other national teams. These include Eliseu, Nani, Oceano, Manuel Fernandes, Rolando, Nélson Marcos, Jorge Andrade, Miguel and Silvestre Varela, who all represent Portugal, as well as Mickaël Tavares, Jacques and Ricardo Faty (Senegal), Patrick Vieira (France), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland), Henrik Larsson (Sweden), David Mendes da Silva, Lerin Duarte, Jerson Cabral (Netherlands) and Rui (Equatorial Guinea), among other examples.

World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifiers

Cape Verde has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have qualified for the 2013 African Cup of Nations. Its first World Cup qualifying campaign was the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, in which Cape Verde was eliminated in the first round after one draw and one defeat against Algeria.[6]

In the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup and the 2006 African Nations Cup, Cape Verde advanced to the Final Round after its first victory in a World Cup qualifier, beating Swaziland. In the Final Round, the team made an impression with its first ever away victory against Burkina Faso, but finished fifth in its group and failed to qualify for either finals.[6]

Old coach João de Deus from Portugal brought in several new players from European leagues for the 2010 World Cup/2010 African Nations Cup qualifiers.[5] Cape Verde finished second in its group in the Second round, ahead of Tanzania and Mauritius, but behind Cameroon, and did not advance to the Third round. Cape Verde's top goalscorer of the qualifying campaign was Julio Tavares.

Then, finally, Cape Verde qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, after stunning Cameroon 3–2 on aggregate.

2013 Africa Cup of Nations

On 14 October 2012, Cape Verde managed to secure their first ever berth in the Finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, when they defeated Cameroon 3–2 on aggregate score, following a 2–1 defeat to Cameroon at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, having won the home leg 2–0 in Praia just weeks prior to their qualification.

On 24 October 2012, Cape Verde were drawn into Group A of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, alongside Angola, Morocco and the host nation South Africa. Furthermore, Cape Verde played the opening match of the tournament at Soccer City in Johannesburg, Gauteng, against South Africa on 19 January 2013 – Soccer City being the host venue for the 2010 World Cup Final. Pulled from the fourth pot during the group stage drawing of the tournament, Cape Verde actually had the highest FIFA ranking of any team in their group at the time of the drawing, ranking at 51st overall, followed by Morocco (71st), South Africa (72nd) and Angola (83rd). Cape Verde also had the 10th highest FIFA ranking in the CAF zone at the time of the drawing as well.

Cape Verde drew with South Africa 0–0 in the tournament's first match, before drawing with Morocco 1–1. Platini scored Cape Verde's first ever goal at the AFCON, who were unfortunate to let an early lead slip. They however did win their first ever AFCON match against Angola, which they won 2–1 (despite an early own goal by captain Nando Maria Neves), through the late goals from Fernando Varela and Héldon Ramos, thus qualifying for the quarter-finals, and thus reaching the last eight in their maiden appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations.

On 2 February 2013, Cape Verde faced Ghana in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Cape Verde played a good match, with 16 shots on Ghana's goal to their 8, with 7 shots on target to their 2, Cape Verde proved to be especially dangerous from set-pieces, however Ghana's keeper Abdul Dauda managed to keep a clean sheet making some spectacular saves, and with Wakaso Mubarak scoring a penalty kick for Ghana in the 54' minute, and then scoring again in the closing minute of the game (90+5') on an open goal, Ghana would win the match 2–0, to move on to the semi-finals, and ending Cape Verde's exceptional 2013 Africa Cup of Nations campaign.[7]

2015 Africa Cup of Nations

On 15 October 2014, Cape Verde became the first of two nations to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Algeria, joining the host nation Equatorial Guinea after defeating Mozambique 1–0 at home.[8] The team, under newly appointed manager Rui Águas, picked up where Lúcio Antunes left off and managed to finish in the top two of the group stage with two matches remaining to play in the qualification process, having been drawn in a group together with Mozambique, Niger and Zambia.[9] On 15 November 2014, Cape Verde secured first place in their group, finishing as Group F winners by defeating Niger 3–1 at home, with one match remaining to play for qualification.[10]

Pooled from Pot 3 on 3 December 2014, Cape Verde were drawn into Group B of the final tournament, together with Zambia, Tunisia and DR Congo. On 18 January 2015 they played their first match against Tunisia at the Nuevo Estadio de Ebebiyín. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with Héldon leveling the score off a penalty kick in the 78-minute. Cape Verde then drew 0–0 against DR Congo four days later, with the advancement out of the group stage depending on the final match results of both teams.[11]

Facing off against Zambia on 26 January 2015, with both teams depending on the result of the other match between Tunisia and DR Congo and having to finish with a win themselves, the match ended in 0–0 draw, leaving both Cape Verde and Zambia eliminated from the Cup.[12] Contested during a tropical storm, with 26 mm of heavy rainfall, Cape Verde exited the tournament tied with DR Congo for points and undefeated, yet losing to DR Congo on goal difference. Exhibiting good form, poise and defensive prowess, the team were only able to score one goal, while exiting at the group stage of their second appearance in the finals of the tournament, while remaining unbeaten in any Cup of Nations group stage match.[13]

Other tournaments and notable matches

Cape Verde has two titles: It hosted and won the Amílcar Cabral Cup in 2000, and won the gold medal in the football tournament at the 2009 Lusophony Games. The team also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Lusophony Games. Roberto Lopes, the star center back for Irish team Shamrock Rovers was voted the greatest player in Cape Verde history. For the first time in its history, on 2 November 2002, it faced a non-African team, Luxembourg, in a friendly, resulting in a scoreless draw. On 4 September 2009, it faced Malta in a friendly, resulting in a 2–0 victory. On 24 May 2010, Cape Verde played out a 0–0 draw in a friendly match against a full-strength Portugal.[14] At the time, Portugal was third in the FIFA rankings and Cape Verde were 117th.[15] On 31 March 2015, a second friendly against Portugal resulted in a 2–0 victory in Portugal.[16]

Stadiums
Main articles: Estádio da Várzea and Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde

The team used to play their games at Estádio da Várzea. It is located in the capital city, Praia, on the Santiago Island. The stadium opened in 2006 and holds 10,000 people.

In 2014 the new stadium Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde was opened, able to host a capacity of 15,000 people. On 15 October 2014 the team qualified for their second Africa Cup of Nations at the new stadium, in a 1–0 victory over Mozambique, making them the first of all teams in CAF to qualify for the tournament.

World Cup record
FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
1930 to 1974 Part of Portugal Part of Portugal
1978 to 1982 Not a member of FIFA Not a member of FIFA
1986 to 1998 Did not enter Did not enter
2002 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 0 2
2006 12 4 2 6 12 16
2010 6 3 0 3 7 8
2014 6 3 0 3 9 7
2018 8 3 0 5 5 14
2022 To be determined
2026
Total Group stage 0/21 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 13 3 18 33 47

Africa Cup of Nations record
Titles: 0
Appearances: 2
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
1957Part of  Portugal
1959
1962
1963
1965
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976Not a member of CAF
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994Did not qualify
1996Withdrew
1998Did not enter
2000Did not qualify
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2013Quarter-finals7th412134
2015Group stage11th303011
2017Did not qualify
2019
2021To be determined
2023
2025
Total Quarter-finals 2/32 7 1 5 1 4 5

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures
For all past match results of the national team, see the team's results page

The following matches were played or are scheduled to be played by the national team in the current or upcoming seasons.

2019
10 October 2019 FriendlyCape Verde 2–1 TogoFos-sur-Mer, France
Report Stadium: Stade Parsemain
13 November 2019 2021 AFCONQCameroon 0–0 Cape VerdeYaoundé, Cameroon
17:00 UTC+1 Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo
18 November 2019 2021 AFCONQCape Verde 2–2 MozambiquePraia, Cape Verde
18:00 UTC−1
Stadium: Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde

Players

Current squad
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Vozinha (1986-06-03) 3 June 1986 44 0 AEL Limassol
1GK Kéven Sousa (1989-10-06) 6 October 1989 2 0 Batuque Sao Vicente
1GK Elber Evora (1999-12-02) 2 December 1999 0 0 Feyenoord
2DF Stopira (1988-05-20) 20 May 1988 33 1 MOL Vidi
2DF Jeffry Fortes (1989-03-22) 22 March 1989 12 0 Excelsior
2DF Carlos Ponck (1995-01-13) 13 January 1995 12 0 İstanbul Başakşehir
2DF Tiago Almeida (1990-09-13) 13 September 1990 11 0 Hermannstadt
2DF Diney (1995-01-17) 17 January 1995 4 0 ASFAR
2DF Jair Garcia (1996-04-07) 7 April 1996 2 0 FC Boavista
2DF Elvis Mendes (1997-05-08) 8 May 1997 1 0 Louletano D.C.
2DF Lorenzo Fonseca (1998-01-17) 17 January 1998 0 0 Sparta Rotterdam
3MF Hélder Tavares (1989-12-26) 26 December 1989 7 0 Altay
3MF Jamiro Monteiro (1993-11-23) 23 November 1993 7 0 Philadelphia Union
3MF Bruno Leite (1995-03-26) 26 March 1995 3 0 FK Haugesund
3MF Rodrigo Lima (1999-03-02) 2 March 1999 1 0 Braga B
4FW Heldon (1988-11-14) 14 November 1988 51 15 Al-Taawoun
4FW Ryan Mendes (1990-01-08) 8 January 1990 41 7 Sharjah
4FW Djaniny (1991-03-21) 21 March 1991 32 6 Al-Ahli Saudi
4FW Júlio Tavares (1988-11-19) 19 November 1988 30 4 Dijon
4FW Garry Rodrigues (1990-11-27) 27 November 1990 26 4 Fenerbahçe
4FW Zé Luís (1991-01-24) 24 January 1991 17 3 FC Porto
4FW Ricardo Gomes (1991-12-18) 18 December 1991 11 4 Kalba
4FW Júnior Simao (1991-04-20) 20 April 1991 1 0 Leixões SC

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Márcio Rosa (1997-02-23) 23 February 1997 1 0 Cova da Piedade v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
DF Fernando Varela (1987-11-26) 26 November 1987 52 3 PAOK v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
DF Roberto Lopes (1992-06-17) 17 June 1992 0 0 Shamrock Rovers v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
DF Nivaldo (1988-07-10) 10 July 1988 23 0 Concordia Chiajna v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
DF Steven Pereira (1994-04-13) 13 April 1994 5 0 Lens v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019}
DF Kelvin Pires (2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 0 0 Batuque v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
MF Babanco (captain) (1985-07-27) 27 July 1985 60 4 Feirense v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
MF Marco Soares (1984-06-16) 16 June 1984 47 3 Feirense v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
MF Nuno Rocha (1992-03-25) 25 March 1992 27 3 Universitatea Craiova v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
MF Platini (1986-04-16) 16 April 1986 25 1 Politehnica Iași v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
MF Emerson (1996-08-22) 22 August 1996 0 0 Académica da Praia v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019
FW Vagner Gonçalves (1996-01-10) 10 January 1996 2 0 Nancy v.  Lesotho, 24 March 2019

Previous squads

Records

Appearances
Pos. Name Period Apps Goals
1 Babanco 2007– 61 5
2 Fernando Varela 2008– 52 3
3 Héldon 2008– 51 15
4 Lito 2002–2012 48 7
5 Marco Soares 2006– 47 3
6 Vozinha 2012– 48 0
7 Nando 2002–2013 42 0
8 Ryan Mendes 2010– 41 7
9 Carlitos 2012– 34 0
10 Stopira 2007– 33 1

Goals
Pos. Name Period Goals Apps
1 Héldon 2008– 15 51
2 Caló 1998–2007 10 24
3 Lito 2002–2012 7 48
4 Ryan Mendes 2010– 41

Managers since 2003

Honours
  • Amílcar Cabral Cup:
    • Champions: 2000
    • Runners-up: 2007
    • Third place: 1995
  • Lusophony Games
    • Gold medal: 2009
    • Bronze medal: 2006
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References
  1. "Conheça as alcunhas das 16 seleções finalistas" [Meet the nicknames of the 16 finalists]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 2 February 2013. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  2. Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  3. Courtney, Barry (5 June 2006). "Cape Verde Islands – List of International matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  4. "Cape Verde Islands". FIFA.com. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  5. "Foreign contingent boost Cape Verde". FIFA. 21 May 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  6. "Cape Verde Islands: Profile". FIFA. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
  7. "Ghana vs. Cape Verde Islands 2–0". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  8. "AFCON 2015 ROUND UP: Algeria, Cape Verde qualify, Zambia & Nigeria revive fortunes and Uganda suffers set back". Kawowo Sports. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  9. "Rui Águas quer levar seleção à CAN2015". Sapo Desporto. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  10. "Cape Verde leave it late to crush Niger". SuperSport. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  11. "Cape Verde hit back to deny Tunisia". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  12. "Cape Verde Islands 0–0 DR Congo". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  13. "Afcon 2015: Group B as it happened". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  14. "Report: Portugal v Cape Verde Islands – International Friendly – ESPN Soccernet". Soccernet.espn.go.com. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  15. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Associations - Cape Verde Islands - Men's". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  16. "Portugal 0 Cape Verde Islands 2". BBC Sport. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  17. CINCO 'PORTUGUESES' E UMA NOVIDADE NAS ESCOLHAS DE RUI ÁGUAS
  18. Cape Verde - National Football Teams
  19. "Futebol: Óscar Duarte na equipa técnica dos Travadores". Sapo Noticias. 8 October 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  20. "Cape Verde island coach Alhinho resigns". ESPN Soccernet. Reuters. 5 January 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  21. "Ze Rui appointed Cape Verde coach". BBC. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  22. "Cape Verde confirm identity of new coach". BBC. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  23. "De Deus New Cape Verde Coach". MTN Football. 22 November 2006. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  24. "Soccer federation unaware of national selection coach's alleged exit". Asemana. 25 June 2010. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  25. "Lúcio Antunes tapped as new national soccer team coach". Asemana. 25 July 2010. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  26. "Lúcio Antunes tapped as new national soccer team coach". BBC Sport. 15 February 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  27. "Rui Águas é o novo selecionador de Cabo Verde". DN Desporto. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
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