When talking about the Cape Verde team entering the World Cup for the first time, "Football" newspaper wrote an article that the improvement of the Cape Verde team's strength is inseparable from "borrowing eggs" and naturalization.
In Group D of the African Group Stage of the World Cup Preliminaries, Cape Verde, ranked 70th in the world, 3-0 Swaziland, locking in the first place in the group and qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in team history! Cape Verde ranks 70th in the world and 13th in Africa.
The Cape Verde team is worth 27.2 million euros, ranking only 19th in Africa. The most valuable players in the team are Kevin Pina, who plays for Krasnodar in the Russian Super League, and Wagner Pina, who plays for Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super League. Both are worth 5 million euros. Eight players in the team are worth more than 1 million euros.
"Football" newspaper wrote an article saying that in Cape Verde, a sparsely populated country, the improvement of the national team's strength is inseparable from "spinning eggs" and naturalization. Thanks to the "Cotonou Agreement" signed between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in 2000, Cape Verdean players do not occupy non-EU quotas when playing in the EU national leagues. Therefore, they can be found in leagues in various European countries, especially in Portugal, where they have been well cultivated. In the past 10 years, the naturalization of a large number of high-level players born in Europe has become a key boost for Cape Verde.