As Cape Verde faces off against Lionel Messi and Argentina tonight, here's a look at what could be next for the breakout World Cup star
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha applauds fans after a 0-0 draw against Spain during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
International sporting events like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup provide global stages for athletes to transform from almost total anonymity into worldwide icons. And at the 2026 World Cup, Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias - more commonly known as Vozinha - has become that breakout star.
Vozinha, 40, has seen his profile rise exponentially after leading Cape Verde - the third-smallest country in Africa and making its World Cup debut - to a 0-0 draw against tournament favorite Spain on June 15, in what the BBC called "perhaps the biggest upset in the tournament so far." He was peppered with 27 shots from 2010 World Cup champion Spain, making seven saves for the Blue Sharks, and winning the Man of the Match award.
Vozinha and Cape Verde square off next against Lionel Messi and Argentina on Friday.
Vozinha entered the tournament with about 50,000 followers on Instagram, but his performance against Spain - as well as the teams draws against Uruguay and Saudi Arabia - boosted his follower count to a whopping 17.6 million in less than three weeks.
Performing so well on such a public stage has set Vozinha up to become an influencer overnight. "The formula is an international event with a massive following for folks who are not normally fans, but who will watch because it's a big event," sports superagent Leigh Steinberg, who represents NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes among other star athletes, told MarketWatch. "It was a David-versus-Goliath matchup, and it catapulted him into a household name."
The new follower boost is impressive, and also shows the global reach of soccer. Vozinha now has more followers than current and former NFL superstars like Tom Brady (15 million) and Mahomes (6.5 million), who play a sport with a predominantly American audience.
"While the NFL dominates the U.S., the world's passion is soccer," Steinberg noted. "It's played in every country throughout the entire world."
So what happens next when someone rapidly gets tens of millions of followers on social media over the course of several days?
While Steinberg represents A-list athletes like Mahomes, he has also represented Olympic athletes who have seen their stardom reach new heights in just a matter of weeks, like Vozinha.
Steinberg helped U.S. figure skater Brian Boitano take advantage of his gold-medal success at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics by booking him skate-centric TV shows like "Carmen on Ice" and "Ice Wars" - leading to years of income after the Olympics, as well as a few prime time Emmy nominations.
And just like Boitano, Steinberg anticipates a financial windfall coming for Vozinha, if it hasn't happened already. There are reports that the goalkeeper, who is currently a free agent, is shopping around for a new team, potentially in Brazil. "I'm open to everything. Let's see what comes up," he told Brazilian journalist and influencer Daniel Braune.
"When the profile gets so high, it creates a revenue stream that is attractive to advertisers. They can monetize his Instagram, YouTube," Steinberg said of Vozinha. "Second of all, he's then got traditional marketing - ads with breakfast cereals, cars, clothing."
Vozinha has already begun posting sponsored content on his Instagram $(META)$page.
As noted, Cape Verde, a small African nation of 490,000 people, is playing at its first-ever World Cup. "I think it is the most important moment of our lives," Vozinha told ESPN Brasil before the tournament.
The goalkeeper, who last played in Portugal's second-division league, said he got his nickname because of his grandparents. In his native language, Vozinha translates to "granny," and he explained to FIFA.com in 2024 how he became known by that name.
"In my neighborhood, the boys were much older. And I always played in the street, getting beaten up a lot. Well, I was also very good with my feet, I was competitive and rebellious, I didn't like to lose. I took a lot of hits, and whenever I couldn't get revenge, things like that, I'd go home angry, with a sour face, and they'd make fun of me, saying I was going to complain to my grandparents," he told FIFA.com.
From Cape Verde's first World Cup match against Spain on June 15 through June 23, Vozinha gained $17.7 million worth of equivalent brand value across all social media, TV, radio, digital news and print news. That's according to data provided to MarketWatch by Apex Marketing, a company that specializes in advertising and branding services.
In addition to Vozinha's raised profile, people are showing a surge of interest in the nation of Cape Verde, too. Compared to three months ago, well before the World Cup began, Google searches for "where is Cape Verde located in the world" and "how to pronounce Cape Verde" and "Cape Verde vacation" are now all breakout Google search trends - meaning searches for those terms and phrases jumped over 5,000%.
"After the World Cup, everyone will know Cape Verde," Vozinha told Men in Blazers, an independent media company covering international soccer.
When the team qualified for the World Cup, the country's national director of state protocol called it a "defining moment for our nation."
Internet searches for the nation of Cape Verde over the last 12 months leading up to the World Cup.
As the tournament progresses, other stars may continue to emerge. New Zealand's Tim Payne and the Ivory Coast's Yan Diomande are two such players to watch after their breakout World Cup performances.
And the fun may not be over just yet for Cape Verde. The nation can advance to the Round of 16 stage of the World Cup if it wins its next match against Argentina on Friday night, which would be one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
"We work in life to have moments like this," Vozinha said after the game against Spain. "I am 40 now, but I was not a professional up until I was 25. This is a reward for all this journey."
-Weston Blasi
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 03, 2026 12:24 ET (16:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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