A fairytale of Cape Verde qualified World Cup

Cape Verde qualified for the World Cup 2026 which will be held in next year, on Monday beating Eswatini 3-0 in their last group match to top the standings ahead of Cameroon and complete a fairy tale campaign.

The wind-swept West African archipelago overcame to win in Praia with second-half goals from Dailon Livramento,Willy Semedo and veteran Stopira and book a first-ever appearance at the World Cup finals.

Cape Verde started two points ahead of Cameroon, whose eight previous World Cup finals appearances are the most of any African country. West Africans are rarely played international football some 25 years ago but now head to next year's finals in America as one of the nine African representatives.

They will join Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria and Ghana who have qualified already for the World Cup 2026 .

The West African island's 600,000 inhabitants had been given the day off to support their team but there was little to cheer. Cape Verde are the second smallest country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup after Iceland, who competed in Russia in 2018.