Pico Lopes is on the verge of captaining Shamrock Rovers to both a fifth League of Ireland title in six seasons and a first FAI Cup since 2019.

He has Conference League league-phase ties against AEK Athens and Shakhtar Donetsk to plan for, too.

But, before long, his focus will switch - Cape Verde have qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

This marks the latest surreal turn in the 33-year-old's career.

Until joining Rovers in 2017, the one-time Republic of Ireland U19 international had paired his playing duties for Bohemians with a job in a bank as a mortgage advisor.

Since then, he has turned full-time, won four league titles, played in Europe for the first time and, most importantly, made his international debut.

Lopes was born and raised in Dublin to an Irish mother and C

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