Curacao, a Caribbean island with a population of just over 150,000, has made history as the smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup. The team won its 2026 spot by playing Jamaica to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday, the BBC reports, an achievement even the players found difficult to comprehend. "It's an impossibility that is made possible," winger Kenji Gorré told the Guardian from the team hotel in Jamaica after a full two hours' sleep. "Now to go to the biggest pinnacle of football is unbelievable," he added. Steve McClaren resigned as Jamaica's coach after the match, per the Athletic.
Curacao's Dick Advocaat, at 78, will become the oldest coach ever at a World Cup. "Everyone knows Dick Advocaat is a big name," said midfielder Juninho Bacuna, per the BBC. "We started working with him in qualifying for the Nations League and we saw a growth in the team in the way we worked and the way we fought in games," he added. Curacao's team has several players who were born in the Netherlands but have family ties to the island. Bacuna said the team's progress is inspiring more Dutch-born players to represent Curacao.
The record for the smallest country to reach the tournament previously belonged to Iceland, which reached the finals in 2018; Curacao's population and land area are both smaller. The island, located 37 miles off the coast of Venezuela, became a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010. It was ranked 150th in FIFA's world rankings a decade ago, but is now ranked 82nd. The expanded format of the 2026 World Cup, which will feature 48 teams instead of 32, helped Curacao's chances of qualifying. Still, the team went unbeaten in 10 qualifying matches, winning seven of them. Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, and Jordan also will play in the World Cup for the first time. Haiti also is in, for just the second time.
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