​After earning worldwide acclaim for his performances with Cape Verde at the World Cup, goalkeeper Vozinha has added another honor to his list: a newly discovered species of sea slug has been named in his honor. The small red mollusk was found by biologist Jesus Ortea in the Caribbean, and he chose to commemorate the 40-year-old star who helped put the tiny nation on the global football map by naming it Aldisa vozinha.
Cape Verde remains the second-smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup finals. They advanced from the group stage and pushed defending champions Argentina to the limit, ultimately bowing out with a 3-2 extra-time defeat in the last 32. Before this, Vozinha’s heroic displays had already earned his side their first World Cup point in a goalless draw against European champions Spain. In a report detailing the discovery, Ortea explained that he wanted to highlight Vozinha’s “prominent role,” noting that the tribute coincided with a match against a team nicknamed La Roja—the Red One. He added that the red hue of the named species serves as a reminder of Vozinha’s achievement.
Vozinha’s performance in that pivotal game sent his fame soaring, with his social media following skyrocketing from 50,000 to 17.4 million on Instagram—surpassing the online reach of sports icons such as NFL star Tom Brady. Ortea, a professor emeritus at the University of Oviedo, was awarded Cape Verde’s Medal of Merit in 2023 for his work studying the waters around the archipelago. This wasn’t Ortea’s first foray into combining his passions; he has previously named a Costa Rican discovery after Keylor Navas, the country’s former goalkeeper who also played for Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Nottingham Forest.
In another example of his habit of naming species after well-known football figures, Ortea bestowed a name on a tiny creature bearing colors reminiscent of Spanish club Sporting de Gijón, honoring former striker Quini. The use of such tributes reflects a broader tradition of honoring sports figures whose on-field exploits resonate well beyond the pitch, with Vozinha’s World Cup heroics providing a fitting inspiration for a new and unusual scientific tribute.