Roberto Lopes, right, celebrates Cape Verde’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Ten years ago, Roberto Lopes was a mortgage advisor in a bank in Dublin, Ireland, while also playing for Bohemians.

A year later, Lopes, also known as Pico, gave up his desk job to pursue a full-time career in football with Shamrock Rovers. Now, Lopes is making his FIFA World Cup debut with Cape Verde, lining-up against the European champion, Spain, in the USA.

But, the turning point in his career came when Rui Aguas, Cape Verde’s former head coach, reached out to Lopes on LinkedIn, when he found out Lopes’s father was from the African island nation in the central Atlantic Ocean.

Speaking to BBC, Lopes said he initially left the request, written out in Portuguese, on read, “I thought it was a spam message and I took no notice of it. And then about nine months later, he messaged me back, saying, ‘Hi Roberto, have you had a chance to consider what I said to you?’.”

And once Lopes agreed to the switch, he hasn’t looked back since. Lopes made his senior team debut with Cape Verde in 2019 and has 44 caps to his name, playing a key role in the nation’s first-ever World Cup qualification.

Published on Jun 15, 2026