Despite being European champions and among the tournament favorites, Spain owns a remarkably poor record in opening matches: just 5 wins, 4 draws, and 7 losses in their 16 previous World Cup appearances. That equates to a mere 31 percent success rate for a nation that has long been considered a global powerhouse.
The list of opening-match victories is brief: Brazil in 1934 (3-1), the United States in 1950 (3-1), Slovenia in 2002 (3-1), Ukraine in 2006 (4-0), and Costa Rica in 2022 (7-0). Between 1950 and 2002, Spain endured a staggering half-century without a single opening-game triumph—a drought spanning eight tournaments.
Perhaps most famously, when Spain finally broke through to win their lone World Cup title in 2010, they did so after losing their opener 0-1 to Switzerland, becoming the first nation in tournament history to lift the trophy despite an opening defeat.
For Cape Verde, Monday’s match represents something far greater than just a game. The Blue Sharks—a nation of roughly 500,000 people spread across a volcanic Atlantic archipelago—are appearing in their first World Cup after topping a qualifying group that included continental giants Cameroon. Manager Pedro “Bubista” Brito insists his side will “play without fear” and “didn’t come here just to take part.”
But history offers a sobering warning. Of the 14 African nations to have made their World Cup debuts, only four have won their first match: Tunisia (3-1 vs. Mexico, 1978), Algeria (2-1 vs. West Germany, 1982), Nigeria (3-0 vs. Bulgaria, 1994), and Senegal (1-0 vs. France, 2002).
The last time four African nations made their World Cup debuts in a single tournament was 2006, when Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Togo all arrived in Germany as first-timers. All four lost their opening matches—Angola narrowly 0-1 to Portugal, Ivory Coast 1-2 to Argentina, Ghana 0-2 to Italy, and Togo 1-2 to South Korea.
Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba scored a consolation goal against Argentina, but the Elephants ultimately crashed out in the group stage. Togo held a stunning 1-0 lead over South Korea at halftime before a red card and a second-half comeback dashed their hopes. Angola pushed former colonial power Portugal to the limit in a tense 1-0 defeat before earning a creditable draw with Mexico later in the group stage. And Ghana, despite losing 2-0 to eventual champions Italy, won admirers for their fearless play and would go on to become Africa’s standard-bearers in subsequent tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals in 2010.
The four victorious debutants, by contrast, each wrote their own extraordinary chapters. Tunisia’s 3-1 victory over Mexico in 1978 was the first-ever World Cup win by an African nation. Algeria’s 2-1 upset of West Germany—the European champions and eventual tournament runners-up—marked the first time an African side had beaten European opposition at a World Cup. Nigeria’s 3-0 demolition of Bulgaria announced the arrival of a golden generation led by Rashidi Yekini and Jay-Jay Okocha. And Senegal’s 1-0 opening-match victory over defending champions France in 2002 remains one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history—a triumph that propelled the Lions of Teranga all the way to the quarterfinals.
So when Bubista’s Blue Sharks take the field against Spain, they will attempt to join that elite club. But they know the odds are long: only four African nations in history have started their World Cup journey with three points. And against a Spanish side eager to shed its own opening-game demons, anything less than a full-strength performance could see Cape Verde become the fifth consecutive African debutant to walk off the pitch empty-handed.
