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World Cup: Smallest nation qualifies – history made!

19 November 2025 10:59 (UTC +04:00)

In a corner of the Caribbean With barely 155,000 people, football has given history a new epic story that can cause an unexpected revolution, Apasport.az reports, citing archysport.com.

Curacao, historically linked to the Netherlands Antilles and today converted into an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is one step away from starring in an unprecedented event in the history of the World Cups: Being the smallest country to qualify for a World Cup and doing so without a single footballer born in its territory. The smallest country to have qualified for the tournament until then was Iceland, in 2018, with a population of around of 350,000 inhabitants and about 444 square kilometers.

The 24 called for this double date were born in Europe, from Rotterdam, Utrecht, Groningen or Amsterdam.

Curaçao, or Curaçao, has several days marked in red on its calendar. On October 10, the country’s anniversary is celebrated as an autonomous nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. April 27, King’s Day and July 2, Flag Day. But now they must add one more national date: November 18, 2025. That day, The Curacao team made history and qualified for the first time in a soccer World Cup.

Curacao tied this morning 0-0 against Jamaica in Kingston to seal their first qualification for a soccer World Cup, by taking first place in Group B of the Concacaf qualifying round for the 2026 North American World Cup. The Curacao team, a global surprise in the qualifiers, arrived at Independence Park needing only a draw against the Reggae Boyz who will postpone the dream of returning to a World Cup after 28 years, with the play-offs as the last opportunity.

Led by former Premier League coach Dick Advocaat, who missed the match against Jamaica for personal reasons, they completed their entire qualifying campaign unbeaten, recording a mammoth 7-0 victory over Bermuda on their way to securing their World Cup spot.

Advocaat led the Netherlands national team in three spells and coached South Korea, Belgium and Russia before taking over in Curacao.

Curacao will meet its rivals in the group stage of its historic first participation in the World Cup when the draw takes place on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC