Viral World Cup goalkeeper Vozinha has revealed he is struggling with his newfound fame, saying that he would like to go back to a time before he was so well-known.
The Cape Verde goalkeeper shot to stardom in his nation’s first ever World Cup game in June when he made seven saves and kept a clean sheet against eventual world champions Spain.
In the days after the game, he saw his Instagram follower count multiply by 250, from 56,000 to 14 million.
Having since been nominated for the men’s Goalkeeper of the Year award at the 2026 Ballon d’Or, he now has more than 28 million followers.
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“I’ve lost my peace and tranquillity,” the 40-year-old told The Observer. “I no longer have any privacy, or at least much less than I used to.
“Now I go out, I go to a restaurant, and there’s always someone who wants to take a photo with me or asks me for an autograph. Or, worse, someone is filming me.
“That’s what has changed most in my life, and I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it.”
He added: “A lot of people want to be famous and have a public profile, but they only see the positive side of that reality.
“To be honest, if I were offered the life I have today or the life I had before, I’d choose the one I had before.”
Vozinha added that supporters now turn up at his mother’s home in Cape Verde every day, saying: “I’m not there so I can’t help them [his parents]. They have to learn with the situation and set boundaries.”
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The goalkeeper also revealed his shock at finding out his new Instagram fame in the minutes after the match, when his follower count had already risen to over one million.
“A member of the team’s catering staff came up to me and told me I had a billion followers,” he said.
“I had no idea what he was talking about; I thought he was joking, but he insisted. “Later, I went to do some interviews in the mixed zone, and a CazéTV [a Brazilian broadcaster] journalist asked me if I knew what was happening. She showed me her phone and that was when I saw that I had more than a million followers.”
