Curaçao fans celebrate historic World Cup qualification | OneFootball

Fans jumped for joy this Wednesday (19) in a shopping center in Willemstad, all wearing the national team jersey. Banners, horns, and flags celebrated the unprecedented qualification of Curaçao for the 2026 World Cup.

See also: All the news from Gazeta Esportiva Check out Gazeta Esportiva’s YouTube channel Follow Gazeta Esportiva on Instagram

Curaçao became the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup, in a frantic final round of the Concacaf Qualifiers.

“Bosnan a saka nos kara!”, shouted a young woman in Papiamento, a phrase that means “You make us proud!“.

Precious result

A 0-0 draw with Jamaica in Kingston secured Curaçao’s national team at the top of Group B in the Qualifiers.

“This makes me feel amazing, amazing because we are the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup,” another fan told AFP. “We’re going to show the world that we may be small, but we have big hearts!“.

The scene was repeated in bars and restaurants in Willemstad, the country’s capital. On one of the city’s avenues, the celebration included fireworks.

“I didn’t expect it, because I thought Jamaica was a strong team. But we did it, we finally did it!” celebrated a fan, almost out of breath.

Evolution in football

The Concacaf Qualifiers gave three direct spots to the group leaders (Panama and Haiti, in addition to Curaçao). Two other teams from the confederation will still compete in the intercontinental playoffs: Jamaica and Suriname.

Curaçao — an autonomous country belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands — usually occupied the bottom positions in the region until just a decade ago.

Now, it becomes the fifth Caribbean nation to qualify for the World Cup, following in the footsteps of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.