Lost my peace and tranquillity: Cape Verde hero Vozinha on the price of fame

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha says he has "lost my peace and tranquillity" after his World Cup heroics made him a global star, with his Instagram following soaring from 56,000 to 28 million.

In Short

• Vozinha says sudden fame has cost him his privacy
• His Instagram following jumped to 28 million after the World Cup
• Cape Verde goalkeeper says he would choose his old life

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha has discovered that World Cup glory comes with a price he was never prepared to pay.

The 40-year-old became one of the breakout stars of this year’s tournament after producing outstanding performances to help Cape Verde reach the knockout stage in their first-ever World Cup appearance.

But while his heroics against eventual champions Spain and Saudi Arabia turned him into a global name, the attention that followed has left him longing for the quieter life he had before the tournament.

“I’ve lost my peace and tranquillity. I no longer have any privacy,” Vozinha told The Observer.

FROM HERO TO GLOBAL STAR

Cape Verde, a nation of around 500,000 people, captured the imagination of football fans by progressing to the last 32 before eventually losing 3-2 to Argentina.

Vozinha played a major role in that run, keeping clean sheets against Spain and Saudi Arabia and earning a nomination for the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the world’s best goalkeeper.

His profile exploded almost overnight. His Instagram following reportedly surged from around 56,000 before the World Cup to 28 million, bringing an entirely new level of attention to his life.

A simple trip to a restaurant can now turn into an ordeal.

Fans approach him for photographs and autographs, while others pull out their phones to film him. What once would have been an ordinary outing has become an experience where he feels he has little control over his surroundings.

The attention has also reached his family in Cape Verde.

Vozinha said fans now turn up daily at his mother’s house, extending the spotlight far beyond his football career and into the private lives of those closest to him.

“I feel powerless,” he said, describing the difficulty of adjusting to a level of fame that arrived almost instantly.

I’D CHOOSE MY OLD LIFE

The goalkeeper has continued his career away from Cape Verde. In July, he left Portuguese second-tier club Chaves and moved to Chilean giants Colo-Colo.

But the change in his footballing fortunes has been accompanied by a dramatic change in his life away from the pitch.

Vozinha acknowledged that fame can appear attractive from the outside, particularly to people who dream of becoming household names. His experience, however, has given him a different perspective.

“A lot of people want to be famous,” he said. “But they only see the positive side.”

For Vozinha, the reality has been a loss of anonymity and the everyday freedom that came with it.

“If I were offered the life I have today or the life I had before, I’d choose the one I had before,” he said.

His World Cup performances may have transformed him into one of the most recognisable footballers from Cape Verde. But away from the stadium, Vozinha is now dealing with a very different consequence of becoming a global sporting figure: learning how to live without the privacy he once took for granted.

- Ends