Philadelphia native CJ dos Santos named to Cape Verde squad for World Cup

Philadelphia native CJ dos Santos will get a chance to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a member of the Cape Verde squad.

Dos Santos, a goalkeeper for San Diego FC, recently made a FIFA-authorized switch to represent Cape Verde when he earned his first senior call-up to the Blue Sharks in the March international window. Dos Santos’ father, Carlos dos Santos, is a Cape Verde native who played Division 1 soccer locally at Temple. Dos Santos, who played with FC Delco and the Philadelphia Union Academy before signing with Portuguese club Benfica as a teenager, represented the U.S. at the youth level and was part of the team for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

He’s joined on the Cape Verde team by former Philadelphia Union midfielder Jamiro Monteiro. Cape Verde is one of four nations making its World Cup debut this summer along with Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.

They are slated to play Spain on June 15 in Atlanta, Uruguay in Miami on June 21 and Saudi Arabia in Houston on June 26.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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