Putting Cape Verde’s Historic Draw Against Spain in Historical Context

So much for a supersized World Cup diluting the quality of soccer’s biggest tournament.

Cape Verde, making its debut at the World Cup, pulled off a stunning upset to shut out heavily favored Spain in a 0-0 draw on Monday.

“This means everything for our country,” Cape Verde coach Pedro Leitão Brito said. “We have always said that we wanted everybody to see our country, our team and we have shown organization and braveness and this is proof of what our country is about — resilience and to try to overcome hardships.”

European champion Spain entered the World Cup as one of the favorites to win the tournament, listed at +450, along with Spain. Now, after the draw, Spain has dropped to +500. 

Not even 18-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal, who was the No. 1-ranked player in our Top 100 Players in the FIFA World Cup ranking, could turn a game that ended with wild and emotional celebrations from Cape Verde players and fans inside the stadium.

Veteran goalkeeper Vozinha broke down in tears after the final whistle following his impressive performance to keep Spain at bay.

“Heroic effort from this Cape Verde team,” FOX Sports lead soccer analyst Stu Holden said on the broadcast as members of Cape Verde embraced the 40-year-old Vozinha. “They’ve made themselves proud.”

Here are some numbers to put the stunning 0-0 draw between Spain and Cape Verde into perspective:

• The result marked one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history by FIFA rankings, representing the fourth-largest ranking gap ever in a match where the lower-ranked team avoided defeat.

• Spain entered the World Cup on a 30-game unbeaten streak, while this was Cape Verde’s World Cup debut, making it the third-smallest country ever to qualify in terms of population.

• Cape Verde’s population is 82 times smaller than Spain.

• Spain forward Lamine Yamal has a transfer value of €200M (approximately $232.1M). All 26 players of Cape Verde’s national team have a COMBINED transfer value of €54.4M (approximately $63.1M).

• Yamal and Norway forward Eling Haaland (€200M, approximately $232.1M) have nearly four times the value of Cape Verde’s entire team.

• Spain was ranked second in the FIFA world rankings heading into the matchup, while Cape Verde was ranked 67th. The 65-place difference is the ninth-biggest gap in world rankings in a World Cup matchup.

• Cape Verde is now one of just three debutant nations since 2010 to earn points in its opening match of the World Cup.

The 2010 champion Spain is aiming to win the World Cup for a second time and is coming into the tournament after winning the Euros in 2024. But a disappointing start echoes its performances in recent World Cups when it has failed to advance beyond the round of 16 in each of the last three editions.

“What doubts do you think my team is going to have? Zero doubts,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who had warned before the match that Cape Verde could be one of the surprise teams of the World Cup. “We know how difficult this competition is. The idea we need to follow is what took us here and what made us European champions.”

Spain plays Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Cape Verde faces Uruguay.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.