The Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, promised this Monday to continue to support the football team in its delivery to the 2026 World Cup, following the request of the federation, due to the several trips that will have to be made in qualifying.
“Obviously we will continue to support not only what is the government’s responsibility to create the conditions for us to compete at increasingly higher levels of competition, but we will also continue to invest from the basic to the highly competitive sport,” he promised. head of the government.
Ulisses Correia e Silva also said he continues to make a “firm commitment” to the sports infrastructure in the archipelago.
The Prime Minister received at the Government Palace the Cape Verdean football team, which this year achieved its best participation in the African Cup of Nations (CAN2023) and reached the quarter-finals, a stage in which the team from the South was eliminated. Africa.
Following this feat, their fourth appearance in Canada, the Blue Sharks are now aiming to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, with Cape Verdean Football Federation (FCF) President Mario Semedo asking for more support.
“I hope that the government will continue to support our team even more, because there will be more requirements for the World Cup,” the leader of the federation said.
Mario Semedo recalled that Cape Verde is part of an “extremely complex” group from a geographical point of view, in which it will still have to play in Mauritius, Cameroon and Libya.
“We therefore expect that these are very stringent requirements and we are confident that the government will understand and, as has been done, will continue to support our team,” confirmed Semedo.
After two rounds, Cape Verde remains second in Group D with the same four points as Cameroon and Libya, while Angola has two points, Mauritius one and Swaziland are yet to score.
The FCF president said reaching the final stage of a major national team competition at the world level for the first time is a goal that the entire country “must embrace.”
The importance is all the greater, according to the leader, that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, the country home to the largest Cape Verdean expatriate community, far larger than the approximately 500 thousand inhabitants of the archipelago.
“This is an extremely important aspect that we all need to pay attention to in order to create the best conditions for ourselves to continue on this path of success,” the director emphasized.
The Cape Verde national team today in Praia begins the preparation phase for the FIFA Series, a pilot project that will allow lower-ranked teams from different confederations to play private matches against each other in the same country.
Cape Verde is in Serie A of the tournament with games in Saudi Arabia, in a group where rivals Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea and Guyana will meet.