Roberto Carlos Lopes (Portuguese: [ʀu.ˈbɛ.tu ˈkaɾ.luʒ ˈlɔpɨʃ]; born 17 June 1992), also known as Pico (Kabuverdianu: [ˈpi.ku]),[2] is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Shamrock Rovers.[2] Born in Ireland, he represents the Cape Verde national team.
Club career
Shamrock Rovers
In November 2016, Lopes joined Shamrock Rovers after leaving rivals Bohemians.[3]
He became a regular starter for Shamrock Rovers in the 2017 season.[citation needed]
In 2019, he scored his first European goal with a header against Apollon Limassol to make it 2–1. He won the FAI Cup in 2019 where Rovers defeated Dundalk F.C. on penalties.[citation needed]
In 2020, he was a member of the Shamrock Rovers squad that won the League of Ireland title. He went on to win three more leagues in a row with Rovers.[citation needed]
In 2024, he became captain of Rovers after Ronan Finn left the club. He captained them to the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League playoff round, the first time an Irish club had reached the knockout stage of a European tournament.[citation needed]
In 2025 he won the double[clarification needed] as captain, Rovers’ first domestic double since 1987.[citation needed]
International career
Lopes was born in Ireland to a Cape Verdean father and an Irish mother.[4] He made one appearance for the Republic of Ireland‘s under-19 squad in 2011.[5]
In 2018, Cape Verde national team coach Rui Águas became aware of Lopes’ eligibility to play for the country and sent him a message on LinkedIn asking if he would like to declare. However, the message was written in Portuguese, which Lopes did not speak, and he ignored it believing it was spam. Nine months later, Águas followed up in English and Lopes, realizing his mistake, accepted the offer.[6] He made his international debut for Cape Verde in a 2–0 friendly win over Togo in 2019.[7]
He was included in Cape Verde’s squad for the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.[8][9]
He was part of the Cape Verdean squad under manager Bubista in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, where the nation made an extraordinary run to the quarterfinals.[citation needed]
In October 2025, he was part of the Cape Verdean team that qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a 3–0 win against Eswatini. In doing so, he became the second current League of Ireland player to qualify for the World Cup, a day after St Patrick’s Athletic goalkeeper Joseph Anang was part of the Ghana squad that qualified.[10][11]
On 15 June 2026, Lopes made his World Cup debut at Cape Verde’s opening group game against Spain.[12]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played on 1 May 2026[13]
| Club | Season | League | FAI Cup | League of Ireland Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Bohemians | 2010 | LOI Premier Division | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0[a] | 0 | 0[b] | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2011 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0[c] | 0 | 4[d] | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0[c] | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | 21 | 1 | ||
| 2013 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 0[f] | 0 | 34 | 1 | |||
| 2014 | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 1[f] | 0 | 37 | 0 | |||
| 2015 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2[f] | 0 | 37 | 0 | |||
| 2016 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3[f] | 2 | 38 | 4 | |||
| Total | 140 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 176 | 6 | ||
| Shamrock Rovers | 2017 | LOI Premier Division | 25 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | 0[f] | 0 | 35 | 1 |
| 2018 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 0[f] | 0 | 32 | 4 | ||
| 2019 | 35 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[c] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 5 | ||
| 2020 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | 2[c] | 1 | — | 21 | 5 | ||||
| 2021 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 6[g] | 0 | 1[h] | 0 | 36 | 1 | |||
| 2022 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 7[i] | 0 | 0[h] | 0 | 34 | 1 | |||
| 2023 | 31 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[j] | 0 | 1[f] | 0 | 37 | 2 | |||
| 2024 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 14[k] | 0 | 0[h] | 0 | 48 | 1 | |||
| 2025 | 34 | 2 | 4 | 0 | — | 14[l] | 0 | 0[f] | 0 | 52 | 2 | |||
| 2026 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1[h] | 0 | 14 | 3 | |||
| Total | 269 | 21 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 57 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 351 | 25 | ||
| Career total | 409 | 24 | 33 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 57 | 3 | 16 | 2 | 527 | 31 | ||
- ^ Appearance(s) in the UEFA Champions League
- ^ Appearance(s) in the Setanta Sports Cup & Leinster Senior Cup
- ^ a b c d e f Appearance(s) in the UEFA Europa League
- ^ 3 appearances in the Leinster Senior Cup; 1 appearance in the Setanta Sports Cup
- ^ Appearance(s) in the Setanta Sports Cup
- ^ a b c d e f g h Appearance(s) in the Leinster Senior Cup
- ^ 2 appearances in the UEFA Champions League; 4 appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League
- ^ a b c d Appearance in the President of Ireland’s Cup
- ^ 3 appearances in the UEFA Champions League; 4 appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League
- ^ 2 appearances in the UEFA Champions League; 2 appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League
- ^ 4 appearances in the UEFA Champions League; 4 appearances in the UEFA Europa League; 6 appearances in the UEFA Conference League
- ^ 2 appearances in the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League campaign; 12 appearances in the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League campaign
International
- As of matches played 16 June 2026[14]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Verde | 2019 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2026 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 46 | 0 | |
Honours
Shamrock Rovers
- League of Ireland Premier Division: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
- FAI Cup: 2019, 2025
- President of Ireland’s Cup: 2022
Bohemians
Individual
References
- ^ “FIFA World Cup 2026: Squad List” (PDF). FIFA. 2 June 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026.
- ^ a b “Roberto Lopes”. Shamrock Rovers. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ “Shamrock Rovers sign Corry, Connolly, Lopes & Devine | Goal.com”. www.goal.com.
- ^ Petrie, Richard (14 October 2025). “Roberto Lopes: World Cup-bound Cape Verde defender relishing his week to remember”. BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
- ^ “Lopes set for Afcon after call-up via LinkedIn”. BBC Sport.
- ^ “World Cup 2026: From bank worker to World Cup – the Dublin-born defender set to face Spain”. BBC Sport. 15 June 2026.
- ^ “Cape Verde 2–0 Togo”. ESPN. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ “Group a rivals name squads for Afcon”. BBC Sport.
- ^ “‘It’s a special moment for me’ – Dubliner Roberto Lopes hoping for more AFCON success after opening win”. Irish Independent. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ “Delight for Pico Lopes as Cape Verde qualify for World Cup”. RTE Sport. 13 October 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
- ^ “‘I’m probably the luckiest person in the world’ – Pico Lopes on Cape Verde’s 2026 World Cup qualification”. RTE Sport. 13 October 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
- ^ “Pico Lopes stars as World Cup debutants Cape Verde claim famous draw against Spain”. RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
- ^ Pico Lopes at Soccerway. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ Pico Lopes at National-Football-Teams.com
Cape Verde squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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