Sports Poets Society

Cape Verde celebrate their historic passage to 2026 finals A blend of diaspora players and homegrown talent has helped the island nation seal qualification for the first time ‘This qualification can already be considered the third defining moment of our nation’ 15 Oct 2025 - The Guardian Alex Cizmic Praia On 5 July 1975, the Cape Verdean flag was raised for the first time at Estádio da Várzea in the capital city of Praia, marking the nation’s declaration of independence from Portugal. At that moment, there was no national football team – and no sign of what was to come. Exactly 100 days after the 50th anniversary of independence, the country’s flag was waved at the very same ground, where crowds gathered to celebrate Cape Verde’s historic first World Cup qualification with the players who had earlier secured the decisive 3-0 win against Eswatini five miles away at the National Stadium. This island nation off the coast of Senegal, with a population of fewer than 600,000, has become the ...