Carlos Alberto Vázquez Fernández (Havana, 1999) changed his life at the age of 3. His parents decided to turn around: from Cuba to Valdemorillo, in search of a promising future. Carlos arrived in Spain and soon started playing soccer. He also did it with a name adapted to the circumstances. Cavafe, crack title. There was something of destiny.
When he still couldn’t remember, still at his house in Havana, Cavafe coincided with Maradona. Diego landed in Cuba in the year 2000 and made many friends there: some good and others bad. One of them, a good one, was with the parents of Carlos Alberto. They took him to see his son when he was just a child, concerned about a problem that was damaging his shinbones. Maradona did not dwell too long on his defect and saw it clearly: “That boy will be a footballer. He came out with curved feet.”
The next move took Cavafe de Valdemorillo to the Madrid neighborhood of Hortaleza. There he made a leap in his football, in the ranks of Canillas. A central with budding hierarchy. Tall, lanky, with air power. From Canillas to San Fernando and from shining in its category, to the Atlético de Madrid youth academy. He shared behind with Manu Sánchez, now at Osasuna, and with Montero, at Besiktas.
At Atleti the figure of Cavafe was growing. And he was always clear: if I was going to be a footballer, I wanted to represent the Cuban national team. This was stated in a media outlet in his country, where the statement went viral and local coaches began to contact him. From those words, to reality in just five years.
On March 25, 2021, Cavafe made his debut with the Cuban national team, against Guatemala and making history. He was the first Cuban footballer to wear the colors of his national team playing for a foreign team. At that time Cavafe belonged to Navalcarnero (Segunda B), on loan from Alcorcón B. The road was not easy, but Carlos Alberto always shot the ball as it came. It never stopped.
The Cavafe’s debut altered Cuba’s roadmap for the better. From his call, to Onel Hernández, a prodigious Cuban winger who developed his career in Germany and now stands out with Norwich in England. Cuban soccer players around the world are already beginning to claim their place in the national team.
Cavafe trusts the process, while waiting for the next summons. Why has Cuba never been a soccer power, with the natural physique of Cuban athletes? Carlos explains it from tradition. To date, his country has cultivated baseball with a greater presence, but it is time for soccer, which is increasingly dominant on the island. Cavafe has just signed for Tudelano in the First RFEF, the third highest category of Spanish football, and at 22 years old, he has everything ahead of him to continue making history in Cuba.
