The 2026 World Cup gave Vozinha something most footballers spend their careers chasing: worldwide fame. But months after becoming Cape Verde’s unlikely hero, the veteran goalkeeper has admitted that the spotlight came with a price he never expected.
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“I have lost my peace and tranquillity. I don’t have privacy anymore, or at least much less than before,” Vozinha admitted, reflecting on how dramatically his life has changed. A quiet trip to a restaurant now comes with requests for photographs, autographs, and, increasingly, strangers recording him on their phones.
That was a world away from his life in Chaves, where the goalkeeper had been playing in Portugal’s second tier without attracting much attention outside football circles. Then came Cape Verde’s opening World Cup match against Spain. Vozinha produced seven saves to help his country secure a 0-0 draw, and Brazilian broadcaster CazeTV encouraged its audience to follow the goalkeeper online.
The effect was almost instant. Vozinha went from around 56,000 Instagram followers to more than one million within hours. He only discovered what had happened after leaving the pitch. “A member of the team’s catering staff came up to me and told me I had a billion followers,” he recalled. He initially thought the man was joking.
A CazeTV journalist later showed him the numbers in the mixed zone. That was when the scale of his newfound fame finally sank in. Instead of embracing every notification, however, Vozinha chose to switch them off. “I decided to turn off my Instagram notifications, so I wouldn’t be tempted to keep checking who was following me.”
The attention soon reached his family, too. Supporters began visiting his mother’s home in Cape Verde, while his father, who is more reserved, learned to keep his distance. Vozinha admitted that his family now has to establish boundaries without him around to help.
The goalkeeper also resisted the commercial rush that followed his World Cup performances. Although numerous brands approached him, he accepted only one promotional partnership during the tournament and ruled out tobacco, alcohol and betting companies.
For Vozinha, the biggest surprise has been how differently fame looks from the outside. “A lot of people want to be famous and have a public profile, but they only see the positive side of that reality,” he said. His conclusion was striking: if given the choice, he would take his old life back.
Yet despite the disruption to his private life, Vozinha’s football career reached its peak. His performances carried Cape Verde into the knockout stages, where the goalkeeper continued to attract attention and eventually earned a move to Chilean giants Colo-Colo.
The 40-year-old had spent his career moving through clubs in Slovakia, Angola, Moldova, Cyprus and Portugal. Colo-Colo presented a very different chapter. He described the move as the highlight of his club career and insisted that playing for a major club had always been an ambition.
“The decision was very clear,” Vozinha said. “Deep down I always told myself I was a ‘big club’ player. So when Colo-Colo came calling, there was no doubt.”
Even his famous nickname followed him to Chile. The Chilean federation granted Colo-Colo an exemption allowing him to wear ‘Vozinha’ on his shirt rather than his legal name, Josimar José Évora Dias. For the goalkeeper, the name carries personal meaning and serves as a tribute to his late grandmother.
The World Cup also changed the way the football world viewed him. His social-media following reportedly exploded into the tens of millions, while he received recognition among the tournament’s standout goalkeepers and even had a newly discovered sea slug named after him.
But despite the fame, Vozinha has continued playing for Cape Verde and reversed an earlier decision to retire after the World Cup. His latest challenge is now balancing the demands of a new club, international football, and a level of attention he never asked for.
“The World Cup was the best thing that ever happened to me in football, but that is in the past now,” he said. “Being here representing Colo-Colo, a massive club with a rich history, is the highlight of my club career.”
For Vozinha, the World Cup changed everything. The strange part is that the greatest consequence was not what happened on the pitch, but everything waiting for him once he walked off it.