Following the conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Gabriel Sacks, Lead Manager of Aberdeen Asia Focus plc, looks at how the so-called ‘smaller nations’ captured the hearts of fans, and demonstrated the value of the underdog.
As a Brazilian, I am inherently entitled to preach about the sanctity of “the beautiful game”. This near-divine right is especially likely to be exercised when a World Cup is in progress, given that the Seleçao are the most successful side in the tournament’s history.
Unfortunately, 2026 was not exactly Brazil’s year. There was little evidence of their trademark flair during a dismal run that culminated in a last-16 defeat to Norway. So let us quietly forget about o jogo bonito and concentrate instead on the show-stealing heroics of Cape Verde.
As a football fan, I admire Cape Verde for providing the World Cup’s outstanding feel-good story. Against all odds, they drew with eventual winners Spain and gave defending champions Argentina the fright of their lives.
But that is not all. As a fund manager, I also admire Cape Verde for what they can tell us about investing in smaller companies. To understand why, we need to examine their headline-grabbing deeds in more detail.
The Blue Sharks arrived in the Americas as the 13th-ranked side in Africa. Beneficiaries of an expanded qualifying system, they were viewed as one of the event’s weakest teams – as perhaps befits a country with a population of just over 500,000.
In cliché-riddled football parlance, their opening match was a classic “David versus Goliath” encounter. Spain’s star-studded line-up included Barcelona’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal, whose transfer value is reckoned to be a shade over £170 million – around three times more than that of Cape Verde’s entire squad.
Incredibly, the outcome was a goalless stalemate. The stats subsequently told the tale. To once again employ the vernacular: Cape Verde “parked the bus”, registering just one shot on target, four crosses and an awful lot of tackles of interceptions.
Yet anyone who thought the rest of the campaign would be built on nothing but unflinching defence was mistaken. Cape Verde came second in their group, earned a last-32 clash with Argentina, went to-to-toe with the exalted likes of Lionel Messi and got within minutes of pulling off arguably the most seismic shock the World Cup has ever witnessed.
At the risk of stretching the analogy to breaking point, let us now view this “journey” from the perspective of investing in smaller companies. Since the fund I manage focuses on Asia, I hereby nominate Century Pacific Food as Cape Verde’s commercial parallel.
Just as most football devotees likely knew nothing about Cape Verde prior to the World Cup, most investors likely know nothing about branded food products in the Philippines. It is an arena that is simply not on their collective radar. The starting point here is therefore a lack of knowledge.
We next come to first impressions. Whereas the artificial intelligence boom might be regarded as “sexy” – the investment equivalent of the beautiful game, say – branded food sounds about as thrilling as relentlessly stationing 10 players behind the ball. This company is boring, right?
Well, what do we find if we dig deeper? What do we uncover if we keep peeling back the layers? We learn that our interest may well be merited and that we might be dealing with something considerably less unappealing and one-dimensional than we first inferred.
Century Pacific’s corporate mission is “to nourish and delight everyone, everywhere, every day”[1]. This is no idle boast in a nation of more than 112 million people.
Many of the company’s executives have studied at leading US universities. As a result, they posses both an entrepreneurial outlook and a fierce commitment to sustainability and good governance.
These attributes have helped Century Pacific preserve its domestic pre-eminence in the face of challenges from numerous would-be rivals. Even several multinationals have been sent packing.
As investors, we admire Century Pacific ‘s adaptability, resilience and determination to stay ahead of the competition. Similarly intriguing tales of unappreciated growth drivers lie behind almost every one of our fund’s holdings.
The lesson? Whether in football or investment, it can be all too easy to back the same old big names. In tandem, it can be sorely tempting to dismiss the rest as non-entities, also-rans, plucky underdogs or – at best – flash-in-the-pan giant-killers.
This is often to do a grave disservice to those in the lower ranks. Get beyond the knowledge barrier and the initial apathy and we may be pleasantly surprised by what we discover.
Granted, Cape Verde are unlikely ever to win a World Cup. Equally, a company like Century Pacific is unlikely to displace Nvidia or another trillion-dollar tech titan from the top of the market-capitalisation tree.
The point, though, is that both may still be capable of notable outperformance. Both might continue to get better and better. Both could have extremely bright futures. For football fans and investors alike, ultimately, this should count for a great deal.
I still support Brazil, despite their recent woes. I still recognise the attractions of mega-cap and large-cap businesses, too. But I also acknowledge the potential value of keeping an open mind, looking further afield and unearthing the hidden gems that consistently – and undeservedly – escape wider attention.
Gabriel Sacks is Lead Manager of Aberdeen Asia Focus plc.
[1] See, for example, Century Pacific Food: “Our core purpose since 1978” – https://www.centurypacific.com.ph/about/.
