{"id":750,"date":"2026-06-05T10:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:39:48","slug":"the-smallest-nation-ever-to-qualify-for-the-world-cup-didnt-do-it-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"The smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup didn\u2019t do it alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Before Gilbert Martina took the job as president of Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s soccer federation in 2023, he asked his wife for her opinion. <\/p>\n

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\u201cShe said, \u2018Hell, no, you\u2019re not going to do that,\u2019\u201d Martina said.<\/p>\n

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At the time, Martina already had one demanding job as the chief executive of a medical center on the Caribbean island. The soccer job would be no less tricky. Cura\u00e7ao, a nation of 156,000 located 40 miles off Venezuela, had never qualified its national team, the Blue Wave, for the World Cup. Martina was well aware of the challenges \u2014 for two decades, he\u2019d helped the federation raise money for World Cup qualification attempts that all fell short.<\/p>\n

That changed last fall, when Cura\u00e7ao became the smallest nation ever to qualify for the world\u2019s biggest sporting event, on a November night that moved Martina to \u201ctears, tears, tears, tears of joy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming a father, becoming a husband, those are moments of extreme joy in your life. But this moment is unique,\u201d Martina told NBC News. \u201cYou will never, never experience something like that again. I cry like a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s World Cup debut this month will come when the tournament has never been bigger \u2014 played across three countries, with a field that grew from 32 to 48 teams. The expansion created more opportunities for nations that had rarely, if ever, participated, such as Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, each of which will take the field at the World Cup for the first time since 1974. Cura\u00e7ao is one of four debutants, joining Cape Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan. <\/p>\n

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Playing in Group E, Cura\u00e7ao opens June 14 against Germany, a four-time champion with a population of 83 million. It finishes group play against Ecuador (June 20) and Ivory Coast (June 25). <\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot describe it,\u201d Gersley Gijsbertha, the technical director of Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s football federation, said of the mood on the island. \u201cAll the places are blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is a significant shift in a place where all things soccer once were orange, the national color of the Netherlands, which controlled the island since it established trading posts there in the 1600s. Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s place within the Kingdom of the Netherlands meant it acted essentially as a feeder system for the European country\u2019s powerful national team, the Oranje. From 1962 until 2010, players who were either Cura\u00e7ao-born or part of the island\u2019s diaspora also tried, unsuccessfully, to qualify for the World Cup representing the Netherlands Antilles, a collection of Dutch-controlled Caribbean islands that included Cura\u00e7ao. <\/p>\n

When the Netherlands Antilles dissolved in 2010, Cura\u00e7ao had the opportunity to represent itself within FIFA, soccer\u2019s global governing body.<\/p>\n

Building a national team wasn\u2019t as straightforward as scouting local talent. Just 28% of its population is younger than 29, and 25% are 65 or older, the highest percentage of seniors among the six islands that make up the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. <\/p>\n

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But as a constituent country within the Netherlands, Cura\u00e7ao could look outside its 171 square miles to find players in its diaspora. About 81,000 Cura\u00e7ao-born immigrants live in the Netherlands, and 71,000 more who are born in the Netherlands have ties to the island, according to census data.<\/p>\n

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It has become common for nations in the World Cup, including the United States, to stock rosters using \u201cdual-national\u201d players who weren\u2019t born in those countries but have familial ties to them. Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s 26-man roster includes just one player who was born and raised there, Tahith Chong, a midfielder who plays in England\u2019s second-highest professional level. With so many Blue Wave players living and playing professionally in Europe, it was more cost-effective to hold the national team\u2019s pair of pre-Cup training camps in Turkey than in Cura\u00e7ao, Martina said. <\/p>\n

Livano Comenencia, a Netherlands-born right back on the Blue Wave, said his Cura\u00e7ao-born parents were \u201cover the moon\u201d at the island\u2019s World Cup berth. \u201cMy dad\u2019s got a big smile permanently plastered across his face,\u201d he told FIFA.com.<\/p>\n

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