Right foot? Left foot? It doesn’t matter.
You play with both feet, right, left, what do you prefer?
— Rodrigo Marques e Silva ⚽️🧠 (@rodrigos_2_) August 25, 2025
It doesn't matter
Sidny Lopes Cabral - today, you won a fan. pic.twitter.com/GERtKASMIo
Sidny Lopes Cabral dispatches penalties with his left foot.
Penalties he won himself.
He also produces great finishes to impressive individual efforts with his right foot.
A two-footed full-back, Cabral last weekend scored a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-3 victory away against Casa Pia for only Estrela da Amadora’s second league win of the campaign.
From Erfurt to Estrela
In little over two seasons, Sidny Lopes Cabral has risen from the German fifth division, to Portugal’s Liga 3, to becoming one of the Primeira Liga’s biggest breakout stars of the 2025/26 campaign.
Born in Rotterdam, Cabral’s trajectory is peculiar and unexpected with his formative years in football being split between FC Twente of his home nation and Helsingborgs IF in Sweden.
Six goal contributions in 29 appearances for Viktoria Köln was sufficient to accelerate his meteoric rise through the divisions, reaching the Portuguese top flight with the Tricolores and the Cape Verde national team.
The ‘Blue Sharks’ (Tubarões Azuis) recently became the smallest country by land area to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and the son of Cape Verdean parents contributed with one goal and one assist in the two qualification matches he participated in.
In less than 1000 minutes, Cabral has also contributed to six goals for Estrela. Incredible numbers for the defender who you would forgive for taking time to adapt to a higher level of football.
Patrice Evra, amongst other investors, will be rubbing their hands together and pointing encouragingly to Sidny Lopes’ €20 million release clause, believing that Cabral could become Estrela’s biggest sale ever.
🔥 Wow! Que golo bombástico de Sidny Cabral a dar o empate ao Estrela diante do Alverca!
— Remate Digital (@RemateDigitalpt) August 26, 2025
📽 IG/@souestrelista pic.twitter.com/c47gVsDmUN
With this level of ball-striking, you would be forgiven for mistaking him with top-level forwards.
Sidny Lopes Cabral is as explosive on the field as his career’s upward trajectory, completing multiple dribbles per game, breezing past defenders and able to play effectively on the last shoulder.
Sidny loves taking on his man with fast, ambitious, vertical play as one of the most progressive full-backs in the division. He leads Liga Portugal in crosses completed, also sitting in the top five for big chances created, demonstrating his ability to effectively serve teammates in the final third.
In fact, 3.32 expected assists would suggest that his teammates are letting him down. An incredible threat from set-pieces, more than a bonus but an evident necessity in modern football.
Don’t underestimate the functionality of being ambipedal, either.
Playing to a high level with both feet allows him to be more comfortable under pressure, with more solutions on both the left and right of a four-man or five-man defence (despite being maximised with freedom to burst forward).
Sidny Lopes Cabral is a marriage of intensity, explosivity, excellent ball-striking and versatility.
And at only 23 years of age, he may just be getting started.
