Why This Tiny Nation's World Cup Dream Is Within Reach

In the south of the Caribbean Sea, you will find multiple tiny island nations. Some of which are made up of independent nations but others are constituent countries within larger European Kingdoms.
For them, qualifying for a FIFA World Cup has always been a distant dream. But the arrival of the World Cup in 2026 to CONCACAF has opened new doors in the theatre.
The United States, Canada and Mexico have automatically qualified, leaving the remaining CONCACAF Football Teams to fight over the available spots.
The Curacao National Team has been bolstering their squad with players hailing from their European big brother, the Netherlands. Many players have dual citizenship and can play for both countries.
The future of international football is starting to change.
The arrival of one man, Dick Advocaat, has ensured more and more players have started to choose for the smaller footballing nation. Giving up potential future international football careers for Oranje.
But this trend isn't just happening with Curacao in the Caribbean. It has also started to happen with other traditionally smaller footballing nations who have a deep cultural and historical connection with a bigger footballing country.
This is a video about the FIFA World Cup 2026, the Curacao National Team, Dutch Football Manager Dick Advocaat, Dutch Football, The Netherlands National Team, Football in the Caribbean, CONCACAF Qualifiers, Aruba, and underdog football stories.

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Hi all, one clarification for this video. 03:39 - As Curacao is part of the Netherlands, they don't have dual citizenship as it is technically the same country. It's more about finding the players with 'dual nationality' to represent the Curacao National Team. Thanks, and enjoy!

[@da45ep]

it is a separate country, in the netherlands kingdom.. with their own passport

[@laszlopanaflex193]

How do you “qualify” For the team if there is no citizenship - what stops any Dutch person playing for Curacao? Same with Denmark and Faroes or England and Gibraltar

[@titorodriguez7038]

​@laszlopanaflex193 FIFA stops it, in FIFA eligibility rule, if 2 nations hold the same citizenship a player will still have to follow the same eligibility rules as other being they need to be either born in that country, or live there for 5 years or have a parent or grandparent from that country. This rule stops any dutch player with no connection to Curacao or Aruba from play for them and it also stops any American player with no connection to Puerto Rico from playing for Puerto Rico as all Puerto Ricans are American citizens.

[@laszlopanaflex193]

@@titorodriguez7038 awesome thank you for explaining

[@rmmvw]

This is ultimately good for CONCACAF, which at this stage is the second worse federation behind Oceania. Increasing the level of play and holding the Federation of Curacao accountable to settle their debts is good to be an example for the other nations to follow suit.

[@趙祖睿]

I think u should say just ahead of Oceania

[@m.c.martin]

It’s funny you think it’s the second worst, when it’s actually 3rd best 😂

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

I partially agree with your comment. To say that CONCACAF is the second worst federation just sounds out of touch.

[@rmmvw]

@@m.c.martin Tell me which ones are worse by average? A few Asian teams have a shot and are constantly in knockout stages, African teams are picking up strength because the players are no longer playing for European nations, then of course South America and Europe.. CONCACAF has incompetence everywhere you see and are only above Oceania, which makes them 4th best out of 5.

[@rmmvw]

@@FlamingBasketballClub is CONCACAF as a whole better than AFCON? AFC? Sure, you can argue that CONCACAF has the US and MX, but who else can you confidently say has a real chance of even getting to the Semis?

[@tkb4026]

Fantastic video niche stories like this keep my interest in international football

[@Anarchyontheweb]

The pronunciation is so try hard. Very Lucy Zelic / Les Murray

[@markgharwy2848]

00:6 I don't think Aruba is a independent nation a may be wrong so sorry (I love your videos)

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Hi, both Aruba and Curacao are officially part of the Netherlands but manage their own affairs. So they are both independent (to a certain extent). They share nationality across the rest of the kingdom hence the unique footballing outcomes! Thanks for your kind words, I really appreciate it.

[@lws7394]

they are Fifa 'nations' just as Wales or Scotland.

[@hesselkarsten5295]

They only share the king and queen with The Netherlands. They are independent countries.

[@hallo23779]

@@SAMUTHESAMBABALL so they are autonomous regions?

[@auapc2441]

​@@hesselkarsten5295im form aruba and Netherlands pass gay marriage on abc island

[@user-sw5wn8go3k]

Fun fact, Denzel Dumphries, Netherlands RB, has played 2 international games for Aruba before switching allegiance

[@kndrg13]

Bcz nowdays they play for money not for their countries

[@dex1lsp]

Curaçao is already famous for its baseball. In that sport, the large majority of the "Netherlands" team is actually Curaçaoan. They have competed in 5 World Baseball Classics, 17 World Cups of Baseball (including a championship in 2011), 5 Intercontinental Cups, and 34 European Championships (which they have won TWENTY FOUR times), and they are currently ranked 7th in the world! The fact that such a tiny nation can achieve all that AND might also qualify for the football World Cup is truly remarkable.

[@lws7394]

For Baseball the 'Antillian' players from Aruba and Curaçao in the 'Kingdom of the Netherlands team'. In football the best Antillians will play for the Dutch team, not the Islands' teams .

[@adityaprastowo6514]

Imagine if Netherlands, Indonesia and Aruba/Curaçao/Suriname were in same group at WC 2026

[@azurie7782]

Add South Africa because Afrikaans (language derived from Dutch) is one of the official languages in South Africa. And because of their history as former colony of the Netherlands.

[@gj1234567899999]

The Dutch were also able to field a pretty strong baseball team because of all the baseball players from Curaçao. I couldn’t believe they were able to field a team in the world baseball classic with each position containing a current or former MLB player.

[@jasonglasser1621]

What would be funny is if Curacao can take advantage of the wide open Concacaf to get in, while at the same time mainland Netherlands could get a group of death in UEFA qualifying and manage to miss.

[@gregorykorman2026]

If Suriname got on board with something similar, both teams could cause major headaches in Concacaf in the near future.

[@andreinybakken9252]

Really interesting, hope they make it. Dick Advocaat is a genius, remarkable how he’s managed a whole recruiting system, too!

[@titorodriguez7038]

Our recruiting system has been the same since 2015 nothing has changed, what Advocaat has helped with is identifying players we didn't know were eligible for Curacao because there last name might be Indonesian or Surinames and his name also helped turn the head of some of the player's who are still in doubt about playing for us.

[@samuelschonenberger]

It's a working recipe, just look at Morocco, they have players raised in France, Spain and the Netherlands as well

[@GergelyTari]

Comoros also have a chance to qualify from Africa with players born, raised and playing in France.

[@hattorihanzo2275]

Curacao could be a reverse Suriname of sorts. Suriname lost a lot of great talent to the Netherlands in the 80's and 90's.

[@arfaannoermahomed3443]

Yep and that was out own fault cause we fled Suriname Desi Bouterse said all Surinamese who fled will never represent Suriname ever again 😂😂😂 unfortunately they changed it in 2019

[@ethannaranjoethann3176]

They should honestly try to get some dutch talent to start growing their team little by little. They fumbled with Dumfries but they should try with more dutch talent

[@AFCAglory]

Lol it's either Curacao or Suriname, nobody speaks of Aruba and their national team here in The Netherlands. They're completely irrelevant.

[@lws7394]

Dumfries would never have chosen for Aruba. His plan was always to remain elibible for the Netherlands team. That made his refusal to play a qualifier for Aruba so special : While he had not been in a pro-academy or a professional team at age 18-19, he was still ambitious to make it in Oranje ...

[@auapc2441]

​@@lws7394dumfries is other beast who tink a amataur player age 18 wil say he stil dream to play for netherlands

[@zzvvvvvvvv]

top tier obscure football content, keep it up lad

[@TotalFooties]

Imagine a world cup group of the Netherlands, Indonesia, Curacao and Suriname. It's basically a group of Dutch.

[@Bale4Bond]

We‘re going to Aruba.

[@BigGartzy]

How on earth do you have under 1k subs. These are some of the best football related videos I've ever come across. Keep it up!

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Thank you so much! I've got more videos on the way. I hope you'll check them out 🙏

[@Kristoph-69-69]

So what about Suriname. Aren't some of these players of surinamese heritage?

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Absolutely, but it would take some crafty people in charge to get the best out of what's out there.

[@o-os]

I just recently got this video recommended and enjoyed it! I enjoy Concacaf a lot and theres so much interesting stories behind many teams, such as Guatemala's FIFA suspension and El Salvador's downfall and Guadalupe's participation despite not being recognized by FIFA and more, Curacao always interested me as well with all these dutch players they recruit.

[@mishynaofficial]

Curacao beat India 3:1? And I thought Croatia beating Brazil was great achievement.

[@lontongstroong]

Well Veg or Non Veg's NT's current rank is very inflated. Should've been in rank 140 or 150 band if the rank is made fairer.

[@Yusni-bc2cm]

Aruba and Curaçao used to play together as the Netherland Antilles until Aruba split and formed their own team in 1986.

[@kreitous]

It's possible for these small caribbean island beat USA in about 2 or 3 years in the future !

[@gj1234567899999]

Panama is already beating the U.S., and the U.S. barely just squeaked by Jamaica recently so the future is already here.

[@kreitous]

@@gj1234567899999 I mean small island, like Curaçao, Barbados, Bahamas, St Kit and Navis and etc . . .

[@michaelallen4104]

We lost 1-0 from the USA, due to a late Weston Mc Kenny header in the 2019 Gold Cup. Ariba Korsou ! 🇨🇼

[@noobbutbetter]

Trinidad literally beat USA 2-1 in the nations league 2nd leg and they somehow swept it under the rug for the Copa America 💀

[@Kristoph-69-69]

With C.U.M not participating. It's probably going to be Jamaica, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras

[@saubhagyasrivastava6050]

4:53 more than 50 percent wow

[@pj01327]

Great Video!

[@alexnickelbowen]

Please note that the stadium shown at 0:15 is the 'Hasely Crawford Stadium' in Trinidad & Tobago 🇹🇹 and not the 'Compleho Deportivo Guillermo P. Trinidad' in Aruba 🇦🇼. The stadium just happens to be named after an Aruban politician with the same last name as the fellow Caribbean island.

[@scpjack7856]

If Curacao qualify for the 2026 World Cup they will be first non-sovereign state to do so - excluding the countries of the UK - to qualify since the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1938.

[@Michaelkaydee]

Great video 👍🏽

[@lokale9712]

I hope indonesia can really ride the tid. We are doing great now. However, I wish we could do more with our grassroots in the future.

[@AFCAglory]

Very tough

[@latl089er]

Things are going fairly great nowadays with Shin in charge, so at least we have that to go for. At the very, very least.

[@jackbeswick4662]

Anyone who plays Football Manager probably knows about Curacao. I've seen them qualify for the world cup a few times over the years.

[@vexowmc580]

OMG finally someone talked about my island curaçao!!!!! i think its a underrated island for the most part. when i saw this coach dick advocaat was coaching with a lot of expired i was super curious to see what happens. nonetheless thank you for the video

[@tomwilson5108]

Jamaica has so many English born players. The team that they could have if all eligible players played for Jamaica is the crazy

[@elicarlson7682]

Great video

[@nasa258e]

This dude has real trouble pronouncing his Rs

[@TheTriniboy69]

However the stadium in the pic is the Hasley Crawford stadium in Trinidad

[@RespecTheLevYT]

My mom’s from Curaçao. We’ll never qualify for a world cup lmao 😂

[@agastyawiraputra2208]

Better chance than Aruba imo

[@scottrastyles2592]

I love Aruba so much bros

[@brankobelfranin8815]

Lol sure

[@LUISATR23]

🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷