🏆 Cabo Verde national football team 2026 World Cup Squads

The Cape Verde national football team (Portuguese: seleção nacional de futebol de Cabo Verde), recognised as Cabo Verde (Kabuverdianu: Kabu Verdi) by FIFA, represents Cape Verde in men's international football, and is controlled by the Cape Verdean Football Federation. Nicknamed Blue Sharks (Tubarões Azuis in Portuguese), the national team played its first match on 19 April 1978 against Guinea, a match they lost 0–1. Following the federation's affiliation with the Confederation of African Football and FIFA in 1982, the national team entered Africa Cup of Nations qualification for the first time in 1992 and made its first FIFA World Cup qualification appearance in 2003.

Cape Verde plays the majority of its home matches at the Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde. They qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2013. Since then, they also appeared in the 2015, 2021 and 2023 tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals in 2013 and 2023.

Cape Verde qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2026, becoming the smallest country by land area and the second least populated (after Iceland) to qualify for the World Cup, with a land area of 4,033 square kilometres (1,557 sq mi) and a population of just under 525,000, until Curaçao broke both records just five weeks later by qualifying for the same tournament. In the group stage, they finished second with three draws: 0–0 against the reigning European champions Spain, 2–2 with Uruguay, and 0–0 with Saudi Arabia. Cape Verde qualified for the knockout rounds and were eliminated in a 3–2 loss to defending champions Argentina after extra time.