Vozinha, the goalkeeper of Cape Verde’s national football team, has emerged as the player with the most followers on Instagram because of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He gained 6.79 million followers in less than 24 hours following his exploits during his team’s Blue Sharks’ goalless draw in the opening match against European champions Spain.
This represents a 21,500 per cent growth, according to data from MyBettingSites.co.uk.
The score came as a major upset to the footballing world, with many analysts predicting that the European champions would easily defeat the World Cup debutants. But Cape Verde made it a day to forget for their more illustrious opponents as wave after wave of Spanish attacks were repelled by a resolute defence.
And in the centre of the display was the unyielding Vozinha, who pulled save after save to keep out a previously free-scoring Spanish side. The feat, which earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, was made even more impressive by the fact that the goalkeeper is 40 years old.
From 31,000 followers, Vozinha now tops the Instagram gainers list
Born Josimar José Évora Dias, Vozinha, just like his island nation, was unknown to the entire world. Not even in the pantheon of legendary African goalkeepers does the name appear. It is therefore not surprising that coming into the Mundial, he had just 31,538 followers on Instagram.
These were accumulated during his time playing across Africa and the lower Portuguese league, where he now plies his trade with GD Chaves.
But it took just one game and one performance of a lifetime on the grandest stage to change all that. His performance against Spain, where he pulled off seven outstanding saves to keep the former world champions out, not only earned him the best player of the match award but also saw his Instagram following swell to 6,825,438.
With this gain, the Blue Sharks’ shot stopper is set to make $68,000 (₦92 million) for every sponsored post on the platform.
The 6,793,900 followers gained is the highest of all the players at the World Cup presently, dwarfing the Brazilians Endrick in second place, who gained 1,463,971, and Neymar, who gained 1,124,995 followers. Both players, however, did not take part in their country’s opener, which they drew 1-1 with Morocco.
Not even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in fourth and fifth gained more followers than the Cape Verdean shot stopper. The Argentinian maestro had gained only 606,048 new followers in the same time, while his famous rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, gained 697,242. Both players are yet to feature at the World Cup, with Ronaldo’s Portugal set to take on Congo and Messi’s Argentina set to play Algeria, both on Wednesday.
Other top gainers include Julian Quinones, who scored the opening goal of the 2026 World Cup as Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 and gained 376,532 followers, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, who gained 483,472 followers after drawing 1-1 with Brazil, and Spain’s Marc Cucurella whose 470,451 gain stemmed more from his transfer from Chelsea to Real Madrid than from his country’s abysmal performance against Cape Verde.
See also: Supporting Africa at the 2026 World Cup will cost travelling fans £23,000
