What can Cabo Verde’s World Cup run teach us about strategy?

By: Francesco Colomiso

Cabo Verde’s magical World Cup run is a reminder that strategy does not come to life because it is written down. It comes to life when people believe in it, rally around it, and follow through when the pressure is high. For organizations, the lesson is simple: a strategic plan is only a piece of paper until people feel excited, motivated, and accountable for bringing it to life.

Why has Cabo Verde captured so much attention?

On paper, Cabo Verde was not supposed to be at the World Cup.

A country of just over 500,000 people, Cabo Verde qualified for the World Cup for the first time by topping its Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifying group ahead of Cameroon. FIFA described the campaign as being built on quality, spirit, resilience, and a solid defensive foundation, including seven clean sheets across ten qualifying matches.

But the reason the story has travelled so far is not just the result. It is the feeling around the team.

There is visible pride. There is belief. There is leadership from experienced players like their goalkeeper, Vozinha. There is raw talent, yes, but also composure, discipline, and a clear sense that this group knows who they are representing.

That combination is powerful. And it is just as relevant inside organizations as it is on a football pitch.

What does this have to do with organizational strategy?

Many organizations spend significant time creating strategic plans. They define priorities, write purpose statements, identify goals, and build implementation roadmaps.

That work matters. But the plan itself is not the strategy.

The real strategy is what people do with it.

Harvard Business School describes employee buy-in as people’s commitment to an organization’s strategic goals, and notes that it is critical to execution and performance. McKinsey makes a similar point in its work on organizational health: high-performing organizations align people around a clear direction, execute consistently, and keep adapting over time.

In other words: clarity matters, but commitment matters too.

A good strategy needs:

1. Leadership that makes the goal feel real: Leaders need to do more than announce the strategy. They need to embody it, explain it, and make choices that show it matters. 
2. A culture that reinforces the strategy: If the strategy calls for collaboration, but teams are rewarded for protecting their own work, collaboration will stay limited. If the strategy calls for innovation, but people feel unsafe identifying risks or learning from mistakes, innovation will stay theoretical. Culture turns strategy into daily behaviour, or quietly works against it.
3. Belief under pressure: Strategy is easy to support when things are going well. The test comes when resources are tight, the landscape shifts, or people are burned out. That is where resilience becomes execution.
4. Pride in representation: Cabo Verde has shown what happens when people represent something with enthusiasm, discipline, and class. Organizations can learn from that. When employees are proud of what they are building, others notice.

Why does pride matter?

One of the most powerful parts of Cabo Verde’s run is that the team earned admiration well beyond the final result.

After Cabo Verde pushed Argentina to extra time but ultimately lost, Zlatan Ibrahimović praised the team as a “small island with big dreams,” while Thierry Henry said the story “was and always will be Cabo Verde.” The point was not that they won or lost the tournament. It was that they showed the world who they were: proud, disciplined, resilient, and unafraid of the moment. FOX Sports captured the reaction from Henry, Ibrahimović, and others, describing the performance as one that left Cabo Verde with global respect.

That is the kind of reputation every organization wants to build.

When people represent a strategy with pride and consistency, others notice. Clients notice. Partners notice. Future employees notice. The landscape notices.

There are already early signs of that visibility translating beyond football. Skift reported that Cabo Verde’s World Cup run may have sparked a surge in travel interest, including an 800%+ increase in U.S. searches on Expedia. That does not yet prove a sustained tourism boom, but it does show how quickly pride, performance, and visibility can change how people see a place.

Organizations have the same opportunity. When strategy becomes something people believe in and carry with energy, it stops being an internal document. It becomes part of the organization’s reputation.

How can leaders turn strategy into momentum?

The lesson from Cabo Verde is not that belief replaces planning. It is that belief activates planning.

For leaders, the practical question is: have we created a strategy people can see themselves in?

That means involving people early, communicating clearly and transparently, connecting the strategy to day-to-day choices, and celebrating visible moments of progress and success. It also means building a culture where people feel proud to say, “this is who we are, this is what we are trying to do, and this is how I contribute.”

Because strategy is not just what gets written in the final document.

It is what people carry onto the field.

At MacPhie, we help organizations develop strategic plans that create clarity, alignment, and meaningful buy-in. To learn more about how we can support strategic planning and strategy execution, visit our Strategic Advisory page.