Cape Verde have one player in the top five leagues - so how are they Africa's top side, ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden and 14 places above Scotland in FIFA rankings?
- Cape Verde are ranked 31st in the world - the best of any African side
- They could be top seeds for World Cup 2018 qualification
- Country of just 500,000 people is above three Euro 2016 qualified sides
- Squad includes players from Romanian, Cypriot and Moldovan leagues
Yaya Toure. Riyad Mahrez. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. African football boasts some of world's biggest names, fighting for domestic and European titles this season.
Yet a look at the FIFA rankings shows that the Ivory Coast team that Toure captains, the Algerians inspired by Mahrez, and Aubameyang's Gabon, are all being eclipsed by a tiny island nation.
At 31st in the world rankings, Cape Verde are currently Africa's top-ranked nation - despite having almost no players you will ever have heard of.
Cape Verde's team line-up before a game against DR Congo at last year's Africa Cup of Nations
The islands off the coast of west Africa is home to 500,000 people, and has been independent since 1975
With just one member of the current squad playing in one of Europe's top five leagues - and Odair Fortes has just four league starts for a Reims side flirting with Ligue 1 relegation - the Blue Sharks should be one of the continent's minnows.
Instead, a remarkable 2015 has seen them rise to the top of the continent's rankings, and sees them have a real chance of making the 2018 World Cup.
To put the ranking into context, Robert Lewandowski's Poland are in 32nd, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden a further two places behind. Scotland are ranked 14 places below Cape Verde, who are the third highest ranked side outside Europe or South America.
Defender Gege, who plays for Arouca in the Portuguese top flight, celebrates a goal for the Blue Sharks
Rui Aguas was in charge of the team for much of their rise, but was replaced earlier this year
FIFA RANKINGS - WHO ARE THE TEAMS AROUND CAPE VERDE?
20. Turkey
21. Bosnia and Herzegovina
22. Mexico
23. Russia
24. France
25. Czech Republic
26. Slovakia
27. Ukraine
28. Northern Ireland
29. Republic of Ireland
30. USA
31. Cape Verde
32. Poland
33. Costa Rica
34. Sweden
35. Albania
36. Ivory Coast
37. Algeria
38. Iceland
39. Greece
Selected others: 1. Belgium 4. Germany 9. England 17. Wales 45. Scotland
So how has this tiny island nation, which has only been independent from Portugal since 1975, risen so sharply?
Having qualified for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations - only the second time in their history they had made the finals - Cape Verde were eliminated in the group stage despite not losing a game, earning creditable draws against Tunisia, Zambia and a Democratic Republic of Congo side that would be helped to the semi-finals by a combination of Yannick Bolasie and Dieumerci Mbokani.
They followed the tournament with a 2-0 win over a reasonably strong Portugal team - albeit one without Cristiano Ronaldo - a sign of intent against their former colonial masters.
The African nations recorded a dramatic win over Portugal last year, which was a huge boost for their rankings
Babanco, another member of the squad who plies his trade in Portugal, wins a header
Ryan Mendes, the only member of the squad to play their club football in England
Yet last summer they were ranked in the low 50s in the world, well behind Africa's traditionally strong footballing nations.
Since then they have recorded their largest ever win - a 7-1 demolition of Sao Tome and Principe - and seen off Kenya over two legs to reach the final stage of World Cup qualifying.
A defeat to Morocco - newly led by two-time Cup of Nations-winning manager Herve Renard - last week leaves them in danger of missing out on next January's Cup of Nations, but they will hope to put that right on Tuesday, in the reverse fixture.
Ryan Mendes, the Nottingham Forest winger who is the only member of the squad to play in England, was an unused substitute in that game. Other players feature in the Russian, Greek and Portuguese leagues, as well as Romania, Cyprus and Moldova. It is not a role call that would strike fear into opposing players.
But despite lacking big names they are achieving big things. For a country of just 500,000 people to be dominating a continent with a population of over a billion, they must be doing something right.
In Equatorial Guinea last year they were more organised than expansive, and four goals conceded in their last eight matches suggests that has continued.
But defensive football - with the sprinkling of goals against minnows - could give them a real shot at World Cup qualification.
Mendes, on loan from French side Lille, has played 23 times for Nottingham Forest in the Championship
The winger was on the bench for his country's most recent game, but has 19 caps for the Blue Sharks
The African qualifying system sees the 20 teams that are still involved split into five groups, with only the winners of those groups going to Russia in two years time.
As it stands, Cape Verde will be among the top seeds, a huge advantage in such a tricky qualification process. Even if they slip slightly in the next rankings, which come out on April 7, the current sixth-ranked side, Senegal are 180 ranking points behind.
The likelihood is that, without any big stars, and having just changed their coach, Cape Verde will slip away, fall down the rankings and miss out on one or both of the major tournaments they are currently seeking to qualify for.
But, for now, the Blue Sharks are top of the food chain.