Irlanda Lopes

Irlanda Tavares Spínola Lopes, commonly known as Irlanda Lopes and is nicknamed Irlas Messi, is a Cape Verdean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Campeonato Nacional II Divisão Feminino club Vitória de Guimarães and the Cape Verde national team.

Club career

In July 2021, she represented the Praia-based club in the inaugural 2021 CAF Women's Champions League WAFU Zone A Qualifiers, scoring twice to secure the club's first and only points in the competition.
On 2 September 2022, Lopes returned to Portugal and signed for Liga BPI side Torreense.
In August 2023, Irlas joined Amora in the Campeonato Nacional II Divisão Feminino. On 9 September 2023, she debuted for the club in a 6–0 win over Vitória. 21 days later she scored her first goal for the club against CF Benfica.
In February 2025, Vitória de Guimarães announced the signing of Lopes to strengthen the squad for the second half of the promotion phase to the league. On 8 February 2025, She made her debut for the club in a 3–0 win over CF Benfica. The following week, she made her first start and scored twice in a 6–0 victory over U.D. Leiria.

In November 2018, Lopes was called up to Cape Verde's first-ever women's national team for a friendly against Guinea-Bissau. In February 2020, she was called up for the Crioulos' debut in the 2020 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup. Her hat-trick on the final day of the group stage against Guinea, which included her first international goal, secured Cape Verde's spot in the semi-finals.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	1 March 2020	Wusum Sports Stadium, Makeni, Sierra Leone		1–0	3–0	2020 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup
2	1 March 2020	Wusum Sports Stadium, Makeni, Sierra Leone		2–0	3–0	2020 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup
3	1 March 2020	Wusum Sports Stadium, Makeni, Sierra Leone		3–0	3–0	2020 WAFU Zone A Women's Cup