Rotterdam has had its first taste of World Cup fever after Cape Verde’s football team, including several Dutch-born players, qualified for its first ever finals tournament.

The Blue Sharks clinched their place on Monday evening with a 3-0 win against Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, to finish top of their group, four points ahead of Cameroon.

Dailon Livramento, born in Rotterdam, scored the opening goal early in the second half, before Willy Semedo and the 37-year-old substitute Stopira made sure of the result to spark jubilation among the fans packed into the 8,000-seater national stadium in Praia.

The match ended with five Rotterdam-players on the field as brothers Deroy and Laros Duarte, as well as Garry Rodrigues, came off the bench in the second half to join Livramento and Jamiro Monteiro, who plays his club football for PEC Zwolle.

“The first half was very tense because it was 0-0,” Laros Duarte said. “But once Livramento made it 1-0 we knew straight away that we were going to the World Cup.”

In Rotterdam, dozens of fans watched the match in the canteen of FC Maense, a club founded in 1984 by Cape Verdean immigrants.

“We’re not going to be world champions, but just getting to the finals is amazing and we’re on our way,” one supporter told local broadcaster Rijnmond.

Cape Verde, an island nation 700km off the west coast of mainland Africa with a population of 600,000, becomes the second smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup.

The smallest ever is Iceland, but that record could be broken if another country with strong Dutch ties, Curacao, coached by former Netherlands national team manager Dick Advocaat, finish top of their Concacaf group next month.