Roberto Lopes, to be summoned by a social network to play the round of 16 of the African Cup

Roberto Lopes never imagined that a message in another language, received on his Linkedin account, would change his sporting future. The 29-year-old defender was born in Dublin, Ireland, but today he wears the shirt of Cape Verde, a country that qualified for the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations 2022.

His call was given by a message on the well-known social network Linkedin, in 2014. Roberto was born in Ireland, but on his father’s side, he has roots in the exotic African country, Cape Verde.

Carlos, his father, had the opportunity to leave Cape Verde at the age of 16, to go work as a chef on a ship in Belgium: “He ended up accepting the offer and fell in love with Ireland and with my mother. The rest is history”, Roberto told in an interview with ‘Sportsmail’.

Roberto created his Linkedin account when he was studying in Ireland, without knowing that this would be the means of contact to play for Cape Verde. “Out of sheer ignorance and probably rudeness! I just assumed it was spam and that it was a standard LinkedIn greeting in Portuguese, which I don’t speak.”.

It was nine months later that Roberto realized that it was not just any message. “I went back, copied and pasted the original message into Google Translate and he (Rui Aguas) asked me: ‘We are trying to get some new players, would you like to represent Cape Verde?’ I was absolutely delighted as I never saw the opportunity coming and it just came along. I am so glad I responded to you on time!”.

Despite excelling at Shamrock Rovers in the Irish First Division, Roberto was not considered for the Irish team and accepted Cape Verde’s offer. “My father speaks the native language of Cape Verde, but I never learned it. Once I landed and met the rest of my teammates, they were fantastic with me. They all spoke English, made an effort with me and helped me learn bits of Creole to help me when I’m on the court.”.

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