Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde
Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde (Lonzay / Wikipedia.org)

Cape Verde Becomes Smallest Nation to Qualify for the World Cup… But Who’s the Tiniest?

World Cup / October 24, 2025

The World Cup in 2026 has been expanded to 48 teams, from the traditional 32. That, of course, means that there’s more opportunities for nations to qualify… and complete newcomers to major international football to thrive. The expansion has also helped more countries in the AFC confederation to qualify: both Jordan and Uzbekistan will make their debuts at the 2026 extravaganza, which is heading to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

They could yet be joined by any one of Iraq, Oman or Indonesia, while in the CONCACAF region, the likes of Surinam and Curacao – the latter best known as a licenser of gambling companies – are well placed to knock out World Cup regulars such as Jamaica and Panama. Even in UEFA’s European jurisdiction, where normally the same old nations thrive, opportunity appears to be knocking for the likes of Slovakia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania.

One of the biggest stories of World Cup 2026 qualifying emanates from Africa’s CAF confederation. There could be first appearances for the likes of Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Uganda and Gabon, while one guaranteed qualifier is Cape Verde. They have overcome all the odds to become the second smallest country in history to qualify for international football’s quadrennial showpiece.

Cape-d Crusaders

Cape Verde logoWith a population of a little over 500,000 people, Cape Verde is roughly the same size as Sheffield. And with the island covering around 1,550 square miles, it’s approximately the same physical size as Luxembourg. Best known for its tourism, Cape Verde is a burgeoning player in world football… and will get a chance to show it at the World Cup in 2026.

They topped Group D of the CAF qualification phase, defeating eight-time World Cup participant and former African champions Cameroon into second place. The 1-0 victory over Cameroon in qualifying was Cape Verde’s most historic day in a footballing sense, but even that was surpassed by the 3-0 win over Eswatini that confirmed their progress to the main tournament. And their must be something in the water: Cape Verde won their first ever Olympic medal, courtesy of boxer David de Pina, in 2024 shows just how the island is developing as a sporting power.

The Cape Verde squad is permed from players plying their trade all over the place, from Portugal and Turkey to the United States, Finland, Bulgaria and Israel. Defender Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes currently turns out for Irish outfit Shamrock Rovers… he was approached to play for Cape Verde via DM on networking platform LinkedIn. They have already made history… but in 2026, Cape Verde will get a chance to make even more. And, with an agreeable draw, who knows – maybe they will nick a point or two and metaphorically bloody a few noses.

What Is the Smallest Country to Play at the World Cup?

Iceland football team logoThere are a couple of different measures you can use when determining the ‘smallest’ country to qualify for the World Cup. If you were to use population size as your guide, the prize for the smallest country to reach international football’s flagship event would be Iceland.

With a population of around 330,000 people (in 2018), which is roughly the same as Leicester, Iceland overachieved massively during 2016 – when they reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship, famously beating England along the way – and again in 2018, when they qualified for the World Cup.

There they were placed in a tough old group, with Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria their foes. The Icelanders secured a historic draw against the Argentines in their opening game, with Alfred Finbogason cancelling out Sergio Aguero’s opener, before they went on to lose against the Nigerians and the Croatians – the latter, who reached the final, needing an injury time goal to see off their plucky opponents.

Another of the World Cup’s great underdog stories belongs to Paraguay, which may be a thriving South American country of some six million people today, but back in 1930 was anything but. However, despite a population of fewer than one million, Paraguay qualified for the inaugural World Cup in 1930, making the short trip to host nation Uruguay.

Back in those days, one team would qualify from each group, with only three combatants in the mix. Paraguay were paired with the United States and Belgium, losing to the Americans 0-3 in their opening encounter. But history was made next time out when they defeated the Belgians, meaning that Paraguay is – by population size at the time – the smallest country to win a game at the World Cup.

What Is the Smallest Country to Play at the World Cup? (Part 2)

Trinidad & Tobago national football teamOf course, you may use a different measure of the smallest country to have played at the World Cup: the pure geographical space covered by the nation. To that end, Cape Verde will be the smallest country to ever compete at the World Cup, with the ten-island archipelago covering just 4,000 km2. So. they will break the previous record, which belonged to the plucky Trinidad & Tobago from the 2006 World Cup.

They were absolutely nowhere in qualifying, but then appointed Leo Beenhakker – who had coached Real Madrid and Ajax to league titles – as head coach. He in turn recalled veteran players like Manchester United and Aston Villa icon Dwight Yorke, with results improving immediately.

Trinidad & Tobago were able to secure a place in a qualification play-off against Bahrain, who they beat 1-0 in Manama to book a first ever World Cup appearance. Yorke and West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop were joined in the World Cup squad by players from Gillingham, Port Vale and Falkirk, so it would take an almighty giantkilling for them to even win a point at the tournament in Germany.

But they gave it a good go, and despite losing to England – courtesy of goals from Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch – and Paraguay, T & T were able to win a historic first World Cup point via a 0-0 stalemate with Sweden in front of 62,000 fans in Dortmund.