"It is the second edition of the World Championship for us, but it has the feeling and flavour of the first one, of our debut," says Leandro Semedo, one of Cape Verde's most experienced players

Two years ago, at Egypt 2021, Cape Verde were getting ready to debut at the IHF Men's World Championship before their team had a COVID-19 outbreak that decimated the squad.

The African side played a single match, losing 27:34 to Hungary before retiring from the competition because they did not have the minimum number of players available to feature on the court in a match.

For any other side, the outcome could have had devastating results and would have served as a serious blow. But for Cape Verde, a team that prides on their resilience, it just acted as motivation.

One year later, in only their second participation at the CAHB African Men's Handball Championship, the team without any tradition in handball and a rookie that had the stamp of an underdog, which can cause a bit of havoc, delivered a vintage performance.

The result? A superb silver medal, trumping more decorated teams in history like Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco and falling only to Egypt, the continent's powerhouse, which have totally dominated African handball in the last decade.

"We knew we could deliver an excellent tournament after we finished fifth in our continental championship in 2020 and we believed in ourselves. We believed that we can be better, that we can improve and be back even in better form than we proved back then," says Semedo.

At the age of 28, he has been playing in Europe for the last 10 years and is one of the main pillars of the squad, basically the embodiment of how Cape Verde pride themselves and how motivated they are to prove themselves to the world.

With handball still in its infancy in Cape Verde, Semedo only started playing the sport aged 14 and trained with a local team before being thrown into competitive matches one year later.

It was only four years later that he really made his first breakthrough. But it was neither easy nor convenient. In fact, he moved to Portugal, travelling across the world, to improve his skills and sharpen his game at FC Porto, one of the powerhouses of European handball.

"When I got to Portugal, it was really hard. I was all by myself, in a different country, with a different culture and little to lean on. It was difficult, but it was my chance and I tried to seize it, because it would have meant that I made it," says Semedo.

"But I had to work a lot. For each training, I was coming one hour earlier than the rest of the squad, and I spent another hour after each training trying to improve with the coach. I could see players who were 12 years old and were playing better than me, simply because they had taken the first steps there."

Sooner rather than later, Semedo got his chance and made his debut for Porto in the Men's EHF Cup before moving to Spanish side Abanca Ademar León. Now he is back in Portugal, featuring for SL Benfica, the reigning champions in the second-tier European club competition, the EHF European League Men.

He was also one of the players that Cape Verde required to continue their rise, which has been truly impressive – both from a continental standpoint, where they left behind teams with plenty of history, and from an international standpoint, where they secured their first-ever win at the IHF Men's World Championship at Poland/Sweden 2023.

With two goals from Semedo, the team's captain, Cape Verde secured the win against Uruguay, 33:25, in the first match in Group C in the Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg, which eventually sealed a place in the main round for the African side with one match to spare in the preliminary round.

"Well, it is a dream come true, to be honest, a dream that was fulfilled earlier than we expected, because our objective was to progress from the preliminary round. Every match that we play now is a bonus for us and a chance to develop even further along the way," says Cape Verde's captain.

"As I told you, this is an edition of the World Championship in which we feel that we are playing for the first time, even if we did play two years ago, but we only featured in a single match."

The loss against Sweden, 27:34, was limited despite Sweden's superiority, with Cape Verde scoring 19 times in the second half against the co-hosts and reigning European champions. 

That did not deter the African side, eager to impress in the main round, where they will surely face Hungary again and likely also have matches against Portugal and Iceland.

With plans to develop handball even more in the short and medium future, Cape Verde will likely be improving in the coming years, especially as many of the current players in the senior team roster are featuring in European clubs.

But the feeling is that they might be in for the long run, especially after their meteoric rise has paid immediate dividends.