Current FIFA Ranking: 68
Highest FIFA Ranking: 27 (Feb 2014)
Lowest FIFA Ranking: 182 (April 2000)
Football Team Nickname: The Blue Sharks
Honours: None
Head coach: Bubista (since Jan 2020)
Top scorer in qualifying: Dailon Livramento (4)
Star players: Dailon Livramento (Casia Pia), Ryan Mendes (Kocaelispor), Garry Rodrigues (Apollon Limassol)
The third smallest nation (approx. 525,000) to qualify for the World Cup after Curacao and Iceland, Cabo Verde made history with a 3-0 win against Eswatini securing top spot in Group D.
An archipelago of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean, they first attempted to reach the 2002 World Cup hosted in Japan and South Korea but it was recent AFCON performances which raised their profile – reaching Round of 16 in 2021 and going one better when being knocked out in the quarter-final in 2023.
Head coach Bubista, appointed in 2020, is a former defender and captain of the national team.
Previous World Cup appearances (0)
