Cape Verde World Cup hero Vozinha struggling with World Cup fame: I preferred my old life

World Cup viral goalkeeper Vozinha has revealed he is struggling with his newfound fame, saying that he would like to go back to a time before he was so well-known.

The 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper shot to stardom in his nation's first ever World Cup game in June when he made seven saves against eventual world champions Spain.

Vozinha kept clean sheets against Spain and Saudi Arabia with his exceptional goalkeeping to help Cape Verde reach the World Cup round of 32 this year. In the days after the game, he saw his Instagram follower count multiply by 250, from 56,000 to 14 million. Now he says he feels powerless to cope with the intense attention that fame has brought his way.

Cape Verde, a collection of islands near Africa’s west coast with a population of some 500,000, surprisingly reached the knockout stage in their first appearance at the global tournament before losing 3-2 to Argentina.

Vozinha, whose performances earned him a Yashin Trophy nomination for the year’s best goalkeeper, has become a global star, with his Instagram follower count ballooning from 56,000 to 28 million people.

"I've lost my peace and tranquillity, I no longer have any privacy, or at least much less than I used to, Vozinha told Britain’s Observer newspaper.

"Now I go out, I go to a restaurant, and there's always someone who wants to take a photo with me or asks me for an autograph. Or, worse, someone is filming me.

"That's what has changed most in my life, and I don't think there's anything I can do about it."

His family members have also been affected, with fans showing up daily at his mother’s house in Cape Verde.

"I'm not there so I can't help them [his parents]. They have to learn with the situation and set boundaries." 

“I’m not there, so I can’t help them,” said Vozinha, who left Portuguese second-tier club Chaves to join Chile’s Colo-Colo in July.

“A lot of people want to be famous… but they only see the positive side of that reality. To be honest, if I were offered the life I have today or the life I had before, I’d choose the one I had before.”

Having since been nominated for the men's Goalkeeper of the Year award at the 2026 Ballon d'Or, he now has more than 28 million followers.