BUBISTA

Head coach behind Cape Verde's remarkable World Cup qualification

- Mark Gleeson

Pedro Leitao Brito, or the much simpler “Bubista”, engineered one of the biggest shocks in the African game, and World Cup qualifying history, by taking the tiny Cape Verde to the 2026 finals at the expense of Cameroon, who have been to more World Cups than any other African nation.

The Cape Verde head coach, who turns 56 in January 2026, has forged a formidable selection. While he has profited from the large Cape Verdean diaspora across Europe, he has also had to show deft man management skills by blending a group with heritage in common but often not much else. He has players born on the island mixed with those from the migrant communities in France, the Netherlands and Portugal, plus an Irishman, the Shamrock Rovers captain Roberto Lopes.