{"id":10617,"date":"2026-06-14T09:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=10617"},"modified":"2026-06-14T09:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:36:00","slug":"curacao-from-a-caribbean-colony-to-the-biggest-soccer-sensation-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=10617","title":{"rendered":"Cura\u00e7ao: From a Caribbean Colony to the Biggest Soccer Sensation of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

When fans saw the draw for the World Cup 2026<\/strong>, many asked themselves the same
question: \u201cWhere exactly is Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong>?\u201d <\/p>\n

And yet, its presence in the tournament is not merely a soccer surprise. It is the result of a long history of colonialism<\/strong>, migration, political changes, and a unique relationship with Europe.<\/p>\n

Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong> is a small island in the Caribbean<\/strong>, a few kilometers north of Venezuela<\/strong>. For centuries it was part of the Dutch colonial empire and today remains an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/strong>. Its flag flies separately, but the head of state is still the Dutch monarch.<\/p>\n

The path to the current form of Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong> was not the result of a war of independence, but of political negotiations. Until 2010, it was part of
Netherlands Antilles<\/strong>, an autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/strong>.
On October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles<\/strong> were dissolved, and Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong> acquired
the status of an autonomous country, modeled after Aruba<\/strong>. It did not become a fully independent
state, as it continues to belong to the Kingdom of the Netherlands<\/strong>, maintaining its own
government and parliament, while matters such as defense and foreign policy
remain under the responsibility of The Hague<\/strong>. This is a unique political system
that combines broad autonomy with institutional ties to the former mother country.<\/p>\n

Its soccer history is also unusual. Until 2010, it did not even exist as
a separate national team<\/strong>. It was represented by the Netherlands Antilles<\/strong>. The dissolution of that
political entity also led to the creation of the current soccer
federation of Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong>, which joined FIFA and CONCACAF<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The big change came when the federation began to capitalize on its ties with
Netherlands<\/strong>. Players born in Amsterdam<\/strong>, in Rotterdam<\/strong> or in The Hague<\/strong>, with
family roots on the island, were called up to wear the jersey of Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong> national team<\/strong>. Thus
a national team<\/strong> that combined the talent of European academies
with the identity of the Caribbean<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The rise was no accident. In 2019, it won the Gold Cup Qualifying
Championship<\/strong> for the first time, while gradually becoming one of the most competitive teams in the region. The
absence of the United States<\/strong>, Mexico<\/strong> and Canada<\/strong> from the qualifiers
2026<\/strong> qualifiers, the co-hosting arrangement opened a window of opportunity that Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong>
took full advantage of.<\/p>\n

With a population of approximately 150,000, it becomes the smallest country to have participated
in a World Cup<\/strong>! Behind the soccer success, however, lies a much
greater story: the journey of a former colony that has become
an independent voice in soccer on the international stage. For millions of viewers, Cura\u00e7ao<\/strong>
was, until yesterday, an unknown dot on the map. The World Cup<\/strong> brought it into the spotlight
of the entire world.<\/p>\n

More stories like this, in a 640-page large-format investigation,
can be found in the book \u201c Confidential World Cup \u201d published by
Historical Quest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When fans saw the draw for the 2026 World Cup, many asked themselves the same
\nthing: \u201cWhere exactly is Cura\u00e7ao?\u201d And yet, the presence …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}