Josimar Jose Evora Dias is a global football sensation. You know him as Vozinha. On Monday, the 40-year-old goalkeeper orchestrated one of the greatest upsets in history, making seven crucial saves as his Cape Verde team held a star-studded Spain to a historic 0-0 draw on their FIFA World Cup debut. He was named Man of the Match for his heroics.
Cape Verde are the third-smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup. Their population of 500,000 is smaller than that of most Spanish cities. None would have expected anything other than a dominant Spain victory. Indeed, Spain utterly dominated the Group H opener in Atlanta, with 74 per cent possession and an xG of 2.29 compared to Cape Verde’s 0.29.
But Cape Verde had Vozinha in goal, and Vozinha was a brick wall in goal and a rallying leader of a dogged defence that earned their country their first-ever World Cup point. When the final whistle blew, he fell to his knees in tears and was quickly mobbed by his ecstatic teammates. His Instagram following skyrocketed almost a hundred times, from 50,000 before the match to 5.8 million at the time of writing. His name will forever be etched in World Cup folklore.
The moniker “Vozinha” means “little granny” in Portuguese. It comes from his grandparents, who primarily raised him — his father was in the military, and his mother worked long hours to provide for the family.
Earlier this year, in an interview with FIFA, he revealed that he chose the name to avoid a jersey-name clash with a fellow goalkeeper.
“When I arrived in Angola, there was another goalkeeper named Josimar, and I said, ‘I am not going to put Josimar II on the shirt’. If everyone knew me as Vozinha in Cape Verde, that’s what I would be.”
Born in Mindelo on the island of São Vicente, Vozinha began his professional career at 25 with Batuque FC before joining CS Mindelense. Since then, he has been a globetrotting nomad, plying his trade in five different countries across Africa and Europe — from Progresso in Angola, Zimbru Chisinau in Moldova, Gil Vicente in Portugal, AEL Limassol in Cyprus and AS Trencin in Slovakia. Since 2024, he has been at Chaves.
His future in football remains uncertain. His club contract expires in just two weeks. Before yesterday’s match, he was practically unknown outside his home country, with an estimated transfer value of just €50,000.
Today, he is a World Cup legend.
