Nigeria may be absent from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but one of the Super Eagles’ most celebrated achievements survived a potential challenge this week when Cape Verde’s historic run through the group stage fell just short of erasing a record the green and white have held for 26 years, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Cape Verde, ranked 64th in the world coming into the tournament, stunned the football world by navigating Group H without a defeat, picking up three draws against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to finish second on three points and book a place in the Round of 32.
The achievement made the Blue Sharks only the third-lowest ranked nation to reach the knockout rounds since FIFA introduced its ranking system in 1994, a remarkable feat for a country of roughly 525,000 people making their first-ever appearance at a World Cup.
Yet for all the scale of Cape Verde’s accomplishment, it was not enough to displace Nigeria at the top of that particular piece of history.
The Super Eagles, who entered the 1998 World Cup in France ranked 74th in the world, ten places below Cape Verde’s current position, went on not merely to qualify from the group stage but to top Group D, defeating Spain 3-2 in one of the finest individual match performances by an African nation in World Cup history and finishing ahead of Paraguay and Bulgaria. Related News Fans swarm Osimhen during Lagos visit How we narrowly escaped death in Lagos building collapse – Shop owners Tour D’Afrique 2026 concludes with Lagos return
