The 40-year-old goalkeeper attracted 17 million followers after three weeks
After three weeks of attending the World Cup, the Vozinha Instagram account attracted followers from about 46,000 to 17.4 million. The increase of this Cape Verde team goalkeeper is 3.9 times higher than Cristiano Ronaldo's 4.3 million and 3.7 times higher than Lionel Messi's 4.6 million. However, in terms of absolute numbers, Ronaldo still leads with 670 million followers and Messi ranks second with 511 million.
The majority of Vozinha's followers may come from abroad because Cape Verde is the country with the second smallest population (525,000 people) to have a team for the 2026 World Cup, just behind Curacao with 185,000 people.
According to MBS, Vozinha's rise from near-obscurity to 17 million followers on Instagram in three weeks is one of the most notable social media stories of the biggest international football tournament on the planet.
In addition, Brazilian defender Douglas Satos also benefited from the World Cup, increasing the number of followers on Instagram from 192,754 to 2.5 million. Defender Tim Payne's number of followers also skyrocketed from 5,000 to nearly 6 million, after a strange viral campaign by an Argentine content creator.
Vozinha became famous when he made 7 saves in the opening match of Group H of the 2026 World Cup on June 15, helping Cape Verde draw 0-0 with Spain, and also won the Best Player award of the match.
At 40 years and 12 days old, he is the oldest player to debut at the World Cup, breaking the record of Eloy Room (Curacao). He is also the third oldest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup match, after Peter Shilton and Dino Zoff. On June 26, he continued to keep a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia, helping Cape Verde move to second place in Group H and win a ticket to the next round.
Vozinha's real name is Josimar Dias. When he was born, his parents wanted to name him Valdano, after former Argentine striker Jorge Valdano, but the local authorities did not agree. The name Josimar is taken after the defender of the Brazilian team at the 1986 World Cup.
The nickname Vozinha was given to her by her grandparents. He used to play football under his real name until moving to Angola, where there was another goalkeeper named Josimar.
On July 3, the Cape Verde team will meet Argentina in the round of 16. The winner of this pair will advance to the 1/8 round to meet the winner of the Australia - Egypt pair.
Thanh Quy (according to NYP, MBS)