The promising Cape Verde Islands team secured its qualification by defeating its guest Eswatini, 3-0, on Monday, at the conclusion of the fourth group of the African qualifiers.

Daylon Liveramento, Willy Semedo and Stopera scored for Cape Verde in the 48th, 54th and 91st minutes.

With this victory, the team of this archipelago located in West Africa raises its score to 23 points in the lead, while Eswatini’s score is frozen at three points in sixth and final place.

Cape Verde began the final round of qualifiers with a two-point lead over Cameroon, which had participated in the World Cup finals eight times before, the highest number for any African country, and finished the fourth group with 23 points, four points ahead of Cameroon, which tied 0-0 with its host Angola.

25 years ago, Cape Verde rarely played international matches, but now they are heading to the 2026 World Cup finals as one of nine representatives of Africa.

Cape Verde has become the second smallest country to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals throughout history, after Iceland, which participated in the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

Source: Agencies