Football always is a beautiful game and there is always Hope.
It is not over until the final whistle. You keep hustling until the last minute. The same goes for millions who hope to play this game at the highest level. Each of these people will have a story to share about their journey and how they keep pushing with a glimmer of Hope that one day it might happen.
Something’s are meant to happen and this is the story of Roberto Carlos Lopes nicknamed ‘Pico’.
A look back at his parents makes this story even more interesting. Pico’s father Carlos , born in Sao Nicolau, one of the 10 islands which constitute Cape Verde. Carlos moved to Ireland in early 1980s, happened to meet Julie, Irish girl born in Terenure, Dublin. A three years courtship followed by marriage in 1988 , the couple settled in their house at the end of the Long Mile Road, Crumlin. The probability of Carlos relocating from Cape Verde to Ireland and to meet Julie itself is an incredible life story.
Pico‘s football journey started when he got his hands on a football flyer handed over in his school by the local club Lourdes Celtics FC. You can listen to him talking to Intersport Elverys about his first club, Lourdes Celtic here.
From there he moved on to play for Home Farm FC and then Belvedere FC. He started working as a mortgage adviser in a bank and followed his football passion. He played as a part time semi professional player for Bohemians FC from 2010 to 2016. During this time he moved from being a player to captaining the team. It was in 2016 , Shamrock Rovers offered a contract to play as a full time footballer. Pico decided to quit his bank job and further pursued his footballing journey.
An incredible journey with Shamrock Rovers which is still going on and in the last 10 years he has lifted 5 League of Ireland Trophies, 2 FAI Cups and President of Ireland’s Cup. He is the captain of the Rovers.
During his college days , he was suggested to set up a Linkedin account to find jobs. He would never have dreamt how this would have helped him to be on the biggest stage to play football, the World Cup.
on 25th October 2018, Rui Aguas then head coach of Cape Verde reached out to Pico on Linkedin enquiring if he would like to represent Cape Verde and play football for the island nation. The message was sent in Portuguese- “Sou treinador da seleção nacional de cabo verde. gostaria de saber se estarias interessado em fazer parte da equipa (I’m the coach of the Cape Verde national team. I’d like to know if you’d be interested in joining the team)” and Pico ignored it thinking it might be one of those scam messages. However, again in Sep 2019 , Pico got another message informing him that the season is going to start and whether he has considered this opportunity. This time the message was in English. That is when Pico realised and understood the whole context. It did not take him much time to decide and he agreed to take part in the upcoming training session. From there on, it has been an amazing six years journey with the Cape Verde team for Pico.
“Pico” means ‘strong man’ and he indeed has been a strong presence playing as the centre back for the national team of Cape Verde. Cape Verde is the third smallest nation, in terms of population, to play in FIFA World Cup. With a population of approximately 500k, the small archipelagic country in the central Atlantic Ocean off the coast of West Africa.
On 15th June, 2026, Pico and team Cape Verde played their first ever World Cup football match against one of the top ranked teams, Spain. It was supposed to be an easy win for the 2010 World Cup winner, Spain, however ‘some things are meant to happen’. The whole footballing world witnessed an incredible performance from the Cape Verde team. The score read 0-0 after the full 90 minutes. A fantastic performance from all the players putting body on the line and playing a very confident game of football. The goalkeeper, Vozinha, made some fantastic saves and the 40 year old (it is another story to be said about the GK) has become a sensation now garnering followers on instagram (from 45k to 2 Mn in less than an hour from the final whistle).
Robert Lopes ‘Pico’ played an important role in ensuring Cape Verde got a point on the table and started the World Cup with a bang. He is also in the FIFPRO Global Player Council.
The world is searching and reading about Cape Verde, the players and the journey. Each of these players and the nation itself which got independence in 1975 have a great story to tell.
For now, it is Robert Lopes ‘Pico‘, the boy who picked up the football flyer in his school living his dream playing the football World Cup. For Ireland, it is a way to see themselves playing on the big stage and a hope that it is not long before their next World Cup journey.
(Images: Courtesy all respective instagram pages)
PAC Talks 