The 2026 World Cup has found its first big hero. Virtually overnight, a previously internationally quite unknown player has become an internet phenomenon.
Cape Verde is far from a powerhouse in the world of soccer, but the African nation has caused a sensation. In their first match at a World Cup, Cape Verde and the favored Spain drew 0-0. Partly responsible for this surprising success is Vozinha (40), whose real name is Josimar Dias, the Cape Verdean goalkeeper. He was not only the man of the match, but is now also a star.
Before the match against one of the title contenders, Vozinha had fewer than 50,000 followers on the social media platform Instagram. Meanwhile, more than six million people now follow Dias' account. Since then, the goalkeeper has also been collecting millions of likes and countless comments with his current posts.
The 40-year-old's performance also generated a lot of recognition on social media in other ways. The "FIFA World Cup" account published images of Vozinha from the game and captioned them with their definition of a "hero": "Keeping a clean sheet in your country's very first World Cup game." This post also collected more than a million likes in just a few hours. In addition, the goalkeeper was honored via the FIFA profile as the best player of the match.
Vozinha's Contract Had Only 15 Days Left
Vozinha was not particularly well known internationally until now. According to "Sportschau", his contract with Portuguese second division club GD Chaves had only 15 days left at the time of the game against Spain. According to the portal "transfermarkt.de", he currently has a market value of only 50,000 euros, but that too could perhaps change soon. It's a tiny amount compared to the big stars of the sport. The site currently lists the market value of Norwegian Erling Haaland (25) at around 200 million euros.
