In recent years, the FIFA World Cup has started to feel like a competition reserved for football’s elite. Ticket prices have soared into the thousands, official jerseys cost a small fortune, and a tournament that was once celebrated as “the people’s game” can sometimes feel as though it has become a playground for the one percent. But despite all of that, the 2026 World Cup reminded us why we fell in love with football in the first place. The underdogs stole the show. The teams that nobody expected to make headlines made them. The countries that many people could not point to on a map made a name for themselves. The squads whose combined market value is probably less than what France pays a substitute sitting on the bench proved their worth. And honestly, who does not love an underdog story?
Let us start with a tiny island off the west coast of Africa. Cape Verde has taken the football world completely by surprise. At the time of writing, they had just secured a place in the knockout stages for the first time in their history, proving that belief can sometimes outweigh reputation. They opened their campaign with a remarkable 0-0 draw against tournament favourites Spain. Not even Lamine Yamal could find a way past the Great Wall of Vozinha. They followed that with an entertaining 2-2 draw against Uruguay before another disciplined 0-0 performance against Saudi Arabia sealed their place in the next round and sent Uruguay packing.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of Cape Verde’s story is that many of these players do not live the glamorous lives associated with modern football. They are ordinary people chasing an extraordinary dream, standing shoulder to shoulder with global superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Their 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha, has been nothing short of sensational, pulling off save after save like a man who has somehow discovered the fountain of youth. If there was ever proof that heart can compete with star power, Cape Verde is it.
Now, let us hop across the Atlantic to another island nation that captured hearts around the world: Curaçao. The moment footage of the team travelling in their colourful, decorated bus went viral, football fans everywhere adopted them as their second team. While their campaign was not quite as successful as Cape Verde’s, that hardly mattered. They belonged on football’s biggest stage, and they made sure everyone knew it.
Scoring against Germany was an achievement few expected, and football fans celebrated as if it were their own country that had found the back of the net. Their goalless draw against Ecuador was equally impressive, with goalkeeper Eloy Room producing a heroic performance that included 15 saves. Even though their final match did not deliver the result they had hoped for, Curaçao left the tournament with something just as valuable: respect.
Heading over to South America, a continent dominated by footballing powerhouses, Ecuador also gave us one of the tournament’s most memorable stories.
The team accidentally cursed themselves by dressing a famous statue in an Ecuador jersey. According to local superstition, any team that dresses the statue loses. And at first… it looked like the curse was real. But in their toughest game of the group stage against Germany, Ecuador did not just break the curse – they absolutely shattered it. A 2-1 victory over the German powerhouse became one of the biggest upsets of the tournament and proved that maybe football is stronger than superstition.
And finally, we land back home in Africa, right on its southern tip. Bafana Bafana.
As South Africans, I think we can all admit that we were distressed, traumatised, and just a little bit dramatic after that opening game against Mexico. And yet, the very next day we woke up refreshed, re-energised, and completely “redelulu’d”. After all, “delulu is the selulu”.
Our match against Czechia ended in a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Teboho Mokoena confidently converting from the penalty spot. The nation erupted. Fabrizio Romano could not stop posting about us, and honestly, if Fabrizio posted it, then you know it actually happened.
But the real celebrations began when Bafana Bafana defeated South Korea 1-0 to secure a place in the knockout stages for the first time ever. There is something incredibly special about watching South Africans come together. For a few hours, nothing else mattered. We celebrate together, stress together, scream at our televisions together, and somehow convince ourselves that we are definitely bringing the trophy home.
Sports pages around the world covered Bafana’s achievement, and for once, the global football conversation included South Africa for all the right reasons.
If we had to write about every underdog story from this year’s World Cup, we would be here all day. But these four nations perfectly captured what football is really about.
Football has never belonged to billionaires, expensive tickets, or clubs with unlimited budgets. It belongs to the people. It is about countries coming together, strangers celebrating like lifelong friends, and entire nations daring to dream. The beauty of the World Cup has never been about who lifts the trophy. Sometimes, it is about the teams who remind us why the tournament exists in the first place. Teams like Cape Verde, Curaçao, Ecuador, and South Africa showed the world that football is not only about billion dollar squads, famous names, or glittering trophy cabinets. It is about hope. It is about representing your country with pride. It is about proving that you belong.
The biggest teams may have the biggest names, but the smaller nations have something money cannot buy: heart. They play with a hunger that reminds us why we fell in love with the game in the first place. Every tackle means something. Every goal means everything. And somehow, without even realising it, the rest of the world ends up dreaming right alongside them.
