"There are plenty of rumors, but nothing concrete." That's Vozinha's current situation — the most-followed goalkeeper on Instagram, a player whose market value jumped 900% at the 2026 World Cup, and he's still waiting for his phone to ring with something real.
Josimar José Évora Dias spent his career bouncing between Cape Verde, Angola, Portugal, Romania and Cyprus. Not exactly the biography that gets you on FIFA legends game invites alongside Cafu, Zanetti, Suker and Trezeguet. But that's exactly where he ended up — on the pitch before the World Cup final, voted into the tournament XI, and somewhere along the way accumulating 28.3 million Instagram followers. More than Thibaut Courtois. More than Manuel Neuer. More than Iker Casillas.
What he actually did to earn it
The numbers behind the hype are real. Against Spain in Cape Verde's World Cup debut, Vozinha produced the kind of performance that stops scroll culture in its tracks — save after save to earn a historic draw. He backed it up against Saudi Arabia as the Blue Sharks reached the knockout rounds. Then came Argentina.
Cape Verde pushed the eventual finalists to the absolute edge. A string of crucial stops had Argentina teetering before they scraped through 3-2. It wasn't enough to go through, but it was enough to make the world remember a goalkeeper from Mindelo.
Transfermarkt's response? His estimated market value went from roughly $58,000 to $581,000 — the steepest percentage rise of any player at the tournament. That's still a modest number by elite standards, but the trajectory is the point. Clubs that weren't watching Cape Verde games in the group stage are certainly watching now.
A free agent with the world's attention
The strange reality is that all of this cultural momentum — the followers, the FIFA invite, the transfer market spike — hasn't yet translated into a signed contract. Any club picking him up gets a goalkeeper with the kind of global profile that takes decades and a Champions League run to build. The price of entry has never been lower for the return on offer.
"I hope I'll find a destination soon and can keep playing football. There's no rush," Vozinha said. Whether that patience holds is another matter. The World Cup ended. The spotlight won't.
