Cape Verde stun football world to reach World Cup last 32 as smallest nation in knockout history

Cape Verde made World Cup history on Friday, becoming the smallest nation by population ever to reach the knockout stage after finishing second in Group H at the 2026 tournament. Their 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in Houston, Texas, combined with Spain’s 1-0 victory over Uruguay in the simultaneous kick-off, was enough to send the island nation of just over 500,000 people into the last 32.

The result was far from straightforward to confirm. Cape Verde’s players gathered on the pitch at full time of their own match and waited in real time for news from the Spain-Uruguay fixture. When the final whistle confirmed Spain had won, the scenes that followed — players and staff dancing on the turf, fans in tears in the stands — were captured on video and spread rapidly across social media.

The celebrations continued in the dressing room, where players filmed themselves dancing and chanting “1 per cent!” — a reference to the odds they had reportedly been given of advancing from a group that contained Spain and Uruguay.

Cape Verde’s campaign was built on resilience rather than dominance. They collected just three points across three matches, but two of those came from creditable draws against genuine heavyweights: a 0-0 against Spain and a 2-2 against Uruguay. Uruguay’s own underwhelming group stage — they finished on two points — meant they were eliminated despite edging Saudi Arabia on goal difference, as they failed to rank among the eight best third-placed teams.

Coach Bubista was defiant at his post-match press conference. “To us, nothing is impossible,” he said. “Ourselves and the people of Cape Verde have to be proud of what the team has done. From the very beginning, we’ve said that one of the purposes we had was to show our country to the rest of the world. To be able to play Argentina and Messi in a phase like this is excellent for our country, regardless of the match itself.”

Forty-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, who had already gone viral for his performance against Spain, captured the mood of the squad simply: “We are small, but we have big hearts, and we are fighters.”

Their reward for the historic achievement is a last-32 tie against reigning world champions Argentina.