An interesting football related story.
The tiny Caribbean nation of Curaçao qualified for the World Cup 2026 recently.
It came top of Group B.
It is in the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean island has a population of just 156,000, fewer than the previous record holders, Iceland, which has about 400,000 inhabitants (and growing rapidly).
Historically, there are connections to the Netherlands. It is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It lies just off the coast of Venezuela.
The original inhabitants were the Arawak (also connected with Jamaica and other islands). The island gives its name to an orange flavoured liquer.
Most of the football squad were born in the Netherlands, including the starting XI from the decisive draw on Tuesday night. The manager is also Dutch: the very experienced Dick Advocaat.
The success is down to the Dutch diaspora and links back to the colonial past. As this piece explains:
The core of the national team consists of players born and raised in the Netherlands. For many of them, Curaçao was long just a part of family history, not of their football careers. Everything changed in the new qualifying cycle: the free spots created after the automatic qualification of the USA, Canada, and Mexico opened a window of opportunity.
Many players with Curaçaoan roots chose to switch sporting nationality, instantly strengthening the squad. The team finally acquired a high-quality, mature roster capable of competing at a serious level: Leandro and Juninho Bacuna, Jürgen Locadia, Tahith Chong, Sontje Hansen, and others.
Thanks to David Storey for bringing that story to my attention over on BlueSky.
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