Everyone Has A Second Team Now

Forget who’s winning (well, kinda!) this FIFA World Cup we’re all watching the characters as much as the teams and they're makin' us crazy (in love)

I’m not going to pretend that I know too much about soccer, although I can tell you exactly what Vic Beckham wore every day in Baden Baden back in 2006. But I know this – if there’s something that is uniting people from all over the world around something joyful, then I am all in, so here’s what I have learnt so far about World Cup 2026. Disclaimer: it does not have a lot to do with The Actual Soccer, because The Internet has fallen in love with the side characters even more than the teams...

The Underdog

Hands up who could even find Cape Verde on a map a month ago? Yeah, me neither - very vaguely would have dropped my finger somewhere into the Atlantic, sort of near West Africa. With a population of just 600 000, it is one of the smallest nations to ever appear at a World Cup. So small, in fact, that its goalkeeper, Vozinho – we’ll get to him – works full-time as a bus driver and part-time as the national team’s goalie. Their defender Roberto Lopes was recruited to the national team through a LinkedIn message while working in corporate marketing. The Internet is - needless to say - obsessed with the idea that somebody could be answering emails or driving a bus one year and playing against Spain the next.

The Unexpected Hero

But back to the goalkeeper… Vozinho is a 40-year-old bus driver by day and goalie by night. He only started his professional career at 25 and he has now set the record for being the oldest player to ever appear in a nation’s debut World Cup match at the age of 40. His already-legendary performance against European champions Spain this week helped Cape Verde make World Cup history.

He made seven match-saving saves and, as a result, secured his country their first point at a World Cup ever. Against Spain. One of the favourites to win this year. Overnight his life changed – he went from 50k followers on Instagram to more than 7 million in less than 24 hours. It’s just a few short days later and he is now sitting on 14 million followers, which to social media naysayers won’t mean much, but is life-changing. Truly. Oh, and on top of that, he said after the game that his family couldn’t even be there to watch the moment because recent US policy changes made his mother’s visa unaffordable, but wait….

The Mama

Vozinha’s emotional post-match interview about his mother being unable to get a visa became such a viral talking point that US politicians got involved. She missed her son’s stunning World Cup performance - sighhhhhh - but the powers got busy and mama-bear will be in the US in time to attend the Cape Verde game on Sunday against Uruguay. I meannnn, Cool Runnings say what now?! You know how much us Gen Xers CANNOT resist a sporting underdog story! Our sense of grit and heroism was formed on the snow with that Jamaican bobsled team. Remember these guys? 👇

The OG

At 38, Messi delivered a historic performance in Argentina’s opening match, setting 10 records in a single night. Ten. He became, in no particular order, 1) the oldest player to score World Cup hat-trick; 2) he equalled Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup record with 16 goals becoming 3) joint top scorer in the competition’s history; 4) he became the first male player to appear in 6 World Cups; 5) he reached 200 international caps for Argentina during the game; 6) he extended his record streak of 24 consecutive World Cup appearances; 7) he also became both Argentina’s youngest World Cup goal scorer in 2006 and 8) the oldest World Cup goal scorer in 2026. At 38, I had trouble staying in side-plank for too long. Also, I can’t count – I am missing a few records here! But you get the drift.

The Bagpiping Fans

Not only have the Scottish fans allegedly drunk Boston dry of beer, they have reminded Americans what fun you can have when you sing Abba loudly in footie stadiums, when you march along to bagpipes, when you tip wildly and when you have so much of a good time that emergency beer rations need to be called in. And you wear tartan. The Boston locals have adopted the Tartan Army and never has more fun been had. The sober curious movement has deffos been delivered a blow with this lot. Watch their Abba karaoke here.

The Viking Fans

Norway said: ‘Bagpipes?! Hold my beer’ and proceeded to row their way into the World Cup. Rowing in the stands, rowing up the escalators. If you’re wearing a Norwegian soccer jersey, good chance you’re rowing. Also, your official team photo was dressed as Vikings so, you know, no notes, frankly. Watch the rowing here.

The Aussie Team’s Barista

Bobby the Bluestone Lane barista is travelling with the Australian team. Every day starts with double espressos and flat whites. Yep, you might have thought Capetonians were coffee snobs, but we’ve got nothing on the Aussie team who clearly decided that a) they couldn’t get through the day without a proper shot of caffeine – fair play to them – and b) that America was not going to be delivering this perfect shot – ditto. I applaud the dedication to the bean. And in future will expect all my work vacays to follow suit with the same. Please. Meet the barista here.

The French Fash

Forget David Beckham in a kikoi. The French team have used their arrivals as an informal fashion show showcasing the best of their country’s luxury maisons. While your man might be proudly sporting a Sealand bum-bag to store his wallet and keys, the French team rolled into the World Cup toting the following: Marcus Thuram with an emerald green suede Chanel Pharell collaboration; Ousmane Dembélé with the Hermes Birkin’s over-sized big sister in So Black; Rayan Cherki with the Hermes Kelly Maxi; Malo Gusto and Adrien Rabiot with Louis Vuitton Bandouliéres and Maxence Lacroix with a Bottega Andiamo Messenger. Dead. RIP me.

The Kit Everyone Wants

Since most of us mere mortals can’t afford to invest our annual earnings into the Chanel bag, we’ve thrown out considerable social media weight behind ranking all the team kits – and by we, I mean Tiktok. The kit that is getting all the buzz yearning is the Japan team’s adidas ‘away’ kit - modelled with a grin by the attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino. The Japan away design features a graphic, vertical stripe with 12 distinct colours. These represent the 11 on-pitch players, while the bold central stripe takes the colour of the red sun of the national flag to represent the heart of the team – the fans, obvs. And what fans they have proven to be – the Japanese fans have been cleaning up after themselves and the rest of dissipating crowd after the games. Shop the collection here.

The Colour of the Game

Yes, it should be green, but it is, in fact, pink. And like The Devil Wears Prada’s Miranda Priestly would have explained, not just any pink. The pink in question is electric fuschia and you’ll spot it on the feet of many a player. The colour was first identified by trend-spotters back in 2024 as a key colour to watch - forecasting a shift towards bold expression and a consumer desire for optimism and visibility. Bright pink now accounts for almost 50% of all footie boots and has gained a big share of the total football color mix in an athlete-led sports economy. Quite rightly, I now want electric fuschia to be my entire personality.

The Rest of My Personality

Sorry Not sorry is given up to Nigerian goalkeeper Maduka Okoye. He’s the Internet’s Newest Boyfriend – at 6’6”, with tattoos, muscles and the face of a supermodel, he’s gone viral for looking like the lead in a romantasy rather than the guy on the footie team… Cameras focused on the Nigerian team before a match against Portugal and within hours, Tiktok and Insta were ablaze with users reposting thirsty shots of Okoye asking: “Erm, who is that Nigerian goalkeeper?” This has since snowballed into hundreds of thousands of thirsty memes, reaction videos and edits. No woman alive is complaining. Watch this one. Or this one.

I’m sorry, we’re just not. Although we’re all for women too - so yay to the all-women referee crew who reffed the match between Bafana Bafana and Czechia last night. The match between South Africa and Czechia on June 18 was officiated by the first all-female on-field refereeing team in men’s World Cup history. The History Makers? Tori Penso, Kathryn Nesbitt and Brooke Mayo. Snaps. Snaps. Snaps🫰

So, who are you watching? No, not which team, which character?