How a LinkedIn report made Roberto Lopes one of Cape Verde’s World Cup heroes
Roberto Lopes was one of the heroes for Cape Verde during their 0-0 draw against Spain at the 2026 World Cup on Monday 15 June. Lopes was solid and lined up the defense. alongside goalkeeper Vozinha as the African nation stunned the former world champions to claim a point on their World Cup debut.
SPAIN VS CAPE VERDE HEADS
Lopes made a crucial block in the final minutes of the game ensuring that Spain remain frustrated and unable to break the deadlock. But that moment almost didn’t happen for the centre-back as a LinkedIn message changed the 33-year-old’s narrative.
HOW LOPES ALMOST LOST THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DREAM
The story goes like this. Long before Roberto Lopes became Cape Verde’s World Cup defender, he received a life-changing approach from the national federation via LinkedIn.
However, since the message was in Portuguese, he thought it was spam and decided to ignore it. At the time, he played in the League of Ireland for Bohemian FC and even worked as a mortgage advisor. But once he got a message from the Cape Verde FA in English, he realized it was an offer to represent the Blue Sharks at international level.
“Nine months later they sent me a message in English asking if I had thought about the proposal and only then did what I should have done originally and Google translated the original message asking if I would be interested in declaring for Cape Verde,” a laughing Lopes told Reuters in a phone interview ahead of the tournament.
“It was a strange point of view (via LinkedIn); it was then explained to me that they were having trouble contacting my club, but when I saw the opportunity in front of me, I was behind it 100% from the first minute and we started working on getting all the necessary documentation.”
Lopes became eligible to play for Cape Verde because his father was born in the African nation. Lopes, affectionately known as Pico, made his Cape Verdean debut in 2019 and has never looked back since.
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Published on:
16 Jun 2026 01:03 IST