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The Blue Sharks of Cape Verde made history as they reached the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup 2026, after their 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in their final Group H in the early hours of Saturday.
With the result, Cape Verde finished second on three points and qualify automatically to the round of 32.
Spain topped the group on seven points after edging out Uruguay 1-0 in the other final Group H fixture. Both Uruguay (two points) and Saudi Arabia (two points) have crashed out.
Cape Verde now joins Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Black Stars of Ghana and Teranga Lions of Senegal as the only African teams that reached the World Cup knockout round in their debuts.
The Super Eagles was the first to achieve the feat when they made their World Cup debut at the 1994 edition in the United States.
Under Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof, the Super Eagles topped a group that had Argentina, Bulgaria and debutants Greece.
However, their journey came to an end after losing 2-1 to 10-man Italy in the round of 16.
Senegal replicated the Super Eagles achievement in their debut at the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.
The Teranga Lions placed second on five points following a 1-0 win against France before draws with Denmark (1-1) and Uruguay (3-3).
The Senegalese went on to reach the quarterfinals before losing 1-0 to Turkey courtesy of a golden goal.
Then at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Ghana made their first appearance and were draw in the same group with Italy, Czech Republic and USA.
Despite losing their opening game 2-0 to Italy, the Black Stars defeated Czech Republic 2-0 and overcame USA 2-1 to make it to the round of 16.
Ghana was paired with a star-studded Brazilian side that had Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, in the first knockout and lost 3-0.
By James Agberebi
