June 3, 2026
The expansion of the World Cup Finals to 48 sides has resulted in 15 qualifiers whose football had not yet been covered by these diaries. Therefore, it was an opportunity to take a look at one or two countries, starting with Curacao !
Curacao
Along with Aruba, Sint Maarten and The Netherlands, the island of Curacao is a constituent member of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, whilst Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba are special municipalities of The Netherlands. Accordingly, the residents of Curacao have Dutch nationality and therefore also possess EU Citizenship, even though Curacao is not part of the EU. Curacao has its own Parliament, but defence and foreign affairs are handled by The Kingdom.
Curacao is situated in the South Caribbean Sea, around 65km north of the Venezuelan coast, and the population in the 2023 census was 155,826, making Curacao the smallest nation in terms of people to qualify for the World Cup Finals.
The capital is Willemstad, noted for its multi-coloured architecture along its waterfront, and the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, which allows pedestrians to walk between the Punda and Otrobanda districts of the town, and swings open to allow large ships access to and from the port.
Dutch, Papiamentu and English are the official languages on the island, but Spanish is also widely spoken.
Curacao’s most famous export is probably the orange flavoured Curacao liqueur, which is naturally colourless but can be dyed into several colours to add character to cocktails, although Blue Curacao is the most popular, and a staple component in Fatbear’s drinks cabinet !
Fatbear has enjoyed three holidays on Curacao, although the last of them was 20 years ago !
Curacao Football League
Competitive football was first played in Curacao in 1921 and until 2010 the top two sides played against sides from the other islands in the Netherlands Antilles to determine the regional champion. Following the break-up of the Dutch Antilles, the Prome Division was formed in 2014, and currently consists of 10 sides.
A regular 18 game is season is played between late October to early April. The top six sides move forward to the Kaya 6 and play 5 more matches, with the top 4 qualifying to the Kaya 4 and three more matches. The top two sides in the Kaya 4 then play a one match final to determine the overall champion. Matches are nearly all played at 3,000 capacity Stadion Rignaal 'Jean' Francisca, which is next door to the national stadium on the outskirts of Willemstad and has an artificial surface. Matches are currently live streamed on the FIFA+ website.
The Prome Divishon champions qualify for the second tier CFU Club Shield, and the 2024 edition was hosted by Curacao. Jong Holland got past St Lucia’s Bays FC with a 3-0 victory but were hammered 1-7 in the quarter finals by Jamaican side Arnott Gardens, who went on to win the competition. Jong Holland had previously reached the semi-finals in 2019 and 2022.
In 2025/26, CV Inter Willemstad beat RKSV Scherpenheuvel 1-0 in the final played at the National Stadium thanks to a near post header from a corner in the 12th minute from Michaelangelo Beers, who no doubt had a few afterwards to celebrate !
Inter had finished 5th in the regular season, third in the Kaya 6 and second in the Kaya 4 and had lost all four of the previous meetings with Scherpenheuvel ! Founded in 1939 by employees of KLM, it was Inter’s first championship
Curacao National Team
Until 2010, Curacao’s footballers played as part of a Netherlands Antilles side until Curacao became an entity in its own right following the dissolution of the Dutch Antilles. However, until recently, Curacao had hardly set the region alight, and came into the World Cup with a FIFA ranking of 82, although they had been as high as 68th in July 2017.
Their nickname is The Blue Wave, and their home ground is the 10,000 capacity Ergilio Hato Stadium. Their first choice kit is all blue, with a change kit of all yellow.
Curacao Coach
The coach is veteran Dutchman Dick Advocaat ( Dick the Lawyer, but more often known as The Little General ) who at the age of 78 will become the oldest ever manager of a side at a World Cup. Advocaat had three times been coach of The Netherlands as well as having stints in charge of Belgium, Russia, Serbia, UAE, South Korea and Iraq, in addition to coaching PSV, Feyenoord, Rangers, Sunderland, Fenerbache, AZ and Sparta Rotterdam amongst others.
Advocaat was appointed in January 2024, prior to the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup but missed the crucial last game in Jamaica due to the illness of his daughter and subsequently resigned afterwards due to her illness. Fred Rutten was appointed as his successor but resigned after just three months in the job due to reports of disagreements with the senior players, and Advocaat returned to take the side to the Finals.
Curacao Squad
Only one member of the 26 man squad was actually born on the Island, Sheffield United winger Tahith Chong ( 4 caps ), who started his career at Manchester United, before moving on to Birmingham City and Luton. None of the squad play their club football in Curacao.
The rest of the squad were all born in the Netherlands, but as Dutch citizens have not suffered the fate of their countrymen who opted to play for Suriname or Indonesia, and then discovered that the Netherlands does not allow dual citizenship, and so lost their Dutch nationality. They were considered to be foreign nationals, and were prevented from playing for their clubs in The Netherlands until work permits were obtained !
The captain of Curacao is former Aston Villa, Groningen, Reading Cardiff City and Watford midfielder Leandro Bacuna ( 70 caps and 16 goals ) who is now playing in the second tier in Turkey for Igdir FK. Younger brother Juninho Bacuna ( 48 caps, 13 goals ) was currently on loan with Volendam, having previously played for Groningen, Huddersfield, Rangers and Birmingham City.
Other players who would be familiar to fans in the UK include ex-Brighton and Hove Albion and PSV Eindhoven forward Jurgen Locadia ( 12 caps ), who is now playing alongside Lionel Messi for Miami in the MSL, together with ex-Vitesse keeper Eloy Room ( 70 caps ). Ex-Ajax midfielder Ar’jany Martha ( 7 caps ) now plays for Rotherham United.
Forward Gervane Kasteneer ( 27 caps ) was the highest scorer in the qualifying campaign with 4 goals and now plays for Malaysian side Terangganu but numbered Coventry City, Hearts, Kaiserslautern and NAC Breda amongst his former clubs. Striker Kenji Gorre ( 33 caps ) is the son of ex-Ajax, Huddersfield, and Barnsley midfielder and Curacao assistant coach Dean Gorre, and having grown up in England was qualified to play for the Three Lions. Starting his career at Swansea City, he also played for Northampton Town before moving on to Nacional and Boavista in Portugal, and is now playing for Maccabi Haifa in Israel.
Striker Sontje Hansen ( 3 caps ) plays for Middlesborough, having started at Ajax and NEC Nijmegen, whilst right-back Shurandy Sambo ( 7 caps ) is a Burnley player but spent last season on loan with Sparta Rotterdam. Full-back Joshua Brenet ( 15 caps ) had a short spell with Livingston after a long career with PSV and Vitesse, and now plays for Turkish side Kayserispor.
Other players with clubs outside of The Netherlands were Beveren forward Jearl Margaritha ( 21 caps ), forward Jeremy Antonisse ( 25 caps ) with Greek Super League side Kifisia, FC Zurich midfielder Livano Comenencia ( 16 caps ), and centre-back Jurien Gaari ( 58 caps ) was now with Saudi side Abha having played many seasons for RKC Waalwijk.
Centre-back Armando Obispo ( 4 caps ) was a regular in PSV side that won this season’s Eredivisie, right-back Sherel Floranus ( 24 caps ) was with PEC Zwolle having previously played for Sparta Rotterdam, Heerenveen and Turkish side Antalyaspor, and defender Roshan Van Eijma ( 25 caps ) plays for RKC Waalwijk.
Leandro Bacuna and Room were joint record cap holders, just ahead of ex-Southampton, Stoke, Everton and Feyenoord centre-back Cuco Martina ( 67 caps ) who is now playing his club football in Curacao but was not selected for the squad.
The Path Towards Qualification
Curacao commenced their campaign in the CONCACAF 2nd Round of Qualification where they won all four of their matches in Group C. They started with a 4-1 home win over Barbados, and followed that with a 2-0 victory in Aruba, a 4-0 win at home to St Lucia and 5-1 victory over Haiti, in a game played in Aruba due to the political troubles in Haiti.
The third qualifying round saw Curacao emerge unbeaten from their home and away fixtures against Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda to top the group and qualify for the finals. The first match was a 0-0 draw in Trinidad, after which home wins over Bermuda ( 3-2 ) and Jamaica ( 2-0 ) were recorded. A capacity home crowd of 10,000 then turned up to witness a second 0-0 draw with Trinidad, before a 7-0 victory in Bermuda took Curacao to the brink of qualification.
Curacao held their nerve in their final game in front of a crowd of 35,000 in Kingston, Jamaica to claim a 0-0 draw to achieve a historic qualification.
However, things had gone off the boil since qualification, losing two friendlies under Rutten played in March in Sydney, going down 1-2 to China and 1-5 to Australia.
Following the return of Advocaat, a World Cup warm up was played in Scotland, which Curacao were controlling after Chong had given them the lead, but a stupid red card for Locadia 7 minutes before the interval changed the balance of the game, and Scotland eased to a comfortable 4-1 victory against the 10 men. It is unusual for red cards to be show in warm-up friendlies, and perhaps the referee could have spoken with Advocaat recommending Locadia was immediately substituted in order for both sides to equally benefit from the warm-up ?
Curacao’s home send-off was to be a match against neighbours Aruba in Willemstad on June 6th.
Possible Starting Line-Up
Room - Sambo, Gaari, Van Eijma, Floranus, Obispo – J.Bacuna, Comenencia, L. Bacuna – Chong, Locadia
Fixtures :
14th June : vs Germany at 18.00 UK time in Houston ( On ITV )
21st June : vs Ecuador at 01.00 UK time in Kansas City ( On BBC )
25th June : vs Ivory Coast at 21.00 UK time in Philadelphia ( On BBC )
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