The biggest World Cup ever is here
The biggest World Cup ever is here, with 48 teams and three host countries. How will it change soccer and can the U.S. seize its home-field moment?
Everything shifted for Tahith Chong with an infamous headbutt and a penalty shootout.
While Zinedine Zidane was expelled from the 2006 World Cup final that Italy went on to win, thousands of miles away on an island in the crystal-blue Caribbean Sea, a 6-year-old boy was awakened to the sport that would become his livelihood.
“I don’t know why I was for France, but France lost the final and I remember I cried,” Chong said. “And then after that, I said to my dad, ‘I want to play football.’”
This summer, he hopes the rest of the world will wake up to Curacao.
Curacao is making its World Cup debut as the smallest nation to ever qualify for the tournament. The entire population of Curacao, approximately 158,000 people, is 50 times smaller than the population of Houston, the city where the Blue Wave plays its first group stage match against Germany on Sunday, June 14.
“We bring a lot of energy to games and we want to show the world that a small island like us, we have a lot of talent,” said Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room. “We want to show the world who we are. We want to show that we don’t only qualify for the World Cup, we also deserve to be there. So I think that’s going to be a nice chance for us to show the world what we can do.”
‘The pride just feels a bit different’
This is a chance unlike any other in the country’s history. Curacao achieved autonomy as a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010 following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, and joined FIFA in 2011. Because Curacao used to be a Dutch colony, Curacao citizens all have Dutch passports.
The Curacao national team is mostly made up of dual nationality players like Room who grew up in the Netherlands and were recruited to play for Curacao. Chong, a 26-year-old midfielder who plays for Sheffield United, is the only player on Curacao’s World Cup roster who was born on the island.
Chong’s father was a soccer player in Curacao, but for the first six years of his life Chong was more interested in superheroes than soccer. That changed with the 2006 World Cup, and soon Chong was spending every moment he could outside kicking a ball until he saw spots from the sun.
When Chong was 8, he received a trial with Dutch professional club Feyenoord and his family moved to the Netherlands so he could play there. He moved to Manchester United as a teenager and represented the Netherlands internationally because Curacao’s national federation was still getting on its feet and didn’t have youth national teams at that time. But he always kept an eye on his home country.
“Curacao had some stuff to figure out before, and that has nothing to do with the team or anything but in terms of the organization,” Chong said. “I’ve been in conversation with them for years and years. I said, ‘You know what, if we can sort that out and get that to a good standard, I’m willing to come.’”
In 2021, Chong received his first Curacao call-up for the Concacaf Gold Cup. Although the Blue Wave ultimately withdrew from the tournament because of a coronavirus outbreak, Chong saw signs that things were heading in a positive direction. He officially switched his international allegiance to Curacao in 2025.
Chong’s first game for the Blue Wave in Curacao, played in the same stadium he trained in as a child with local club Excellence, was the first time his grandmother saw him play in person. It felt like a homecoming.
“It was always Curacao,” Chong said. “My family’s from there, everyone’s from there, so the pride just feels a bit different.”
Room was one of the first players who switched his nationally from the Dutch team to Curacao, where his father was born. He grew up visiting family on the island during the summers and debuted for the Blue Wave in 2015 after being recruited by former Curacao coach Patrick Kluivert. Room and midfielder Leandro Bacuna, who joined in 2016, share the title of Curacao’s most-capped players.
A decade ago, Curacao’s national team lacked the facilities and infrastructure it needed to compete. Chong credited Gilbert Martina, who was elected president of the Curacao Football Federation in 2025, with investing resources and driving an organizational shift, but Curacao also relied on players to invest emotionally in the program.
“We were not at the level where we are now, but I saw already the potential,” Room said. “There was a lot of talent, a lot of players who still could switch. But yeah, I was happy that I chose Curacao, and my goal was at the end to go to a World Cup with Curacao. But it was still a long road.”
How Curacao qualified for the World Cup
Room helped recruit additional players to Curacao. The country won its first Caribbean Cup in 2017 and qualified for the next two Gold Cups, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2019.
With World Cup hosts Canada, the United States and Mexico already guaranteed to qualify, that left three spots up for grabs for Concacaf countries. In World Cup qualifying, Curacao went undefeated and clinched its World Cup spot last fall after Room shut out Jamaica in a scoreless draw.
When the team flew home to Curacao from Jamaica, it was greeted by thousands of jubilant people celebrating the qualification.
“It was like a national holiday,” Room said. “Nobody was at work. Everybody was on the street. So it was really nice to see that everybody was so emotional, too, and happy.”
The national team’s success has united residents of the tiny nation, where driving from one side of the island to the other takes about an hour.
Baseball is historically more popular than soccer in Curacao, which has produced 22 Major League Baseball players. But that’s beginning to change, Room said.
“I think this World Cup is going to give a huge boost to that, too,” Room said. “More kids want to play soccer, so I think that’s a good thing, and also financially it’s going to bring a lot of tourism to the island. So I think it’s only a matter of time that soccer is going to develop even more.”
Curacao players hope that simply playing in the World Cup will have positive returns for the country. Room plays club soccer for USL Championship team Miami FC and previously played four years in MLS for the Columbus Crew. He’s used to people who have never even heard of Curacao, much less able to point to it on a map.
“I came to Ohio and then people asked me, ‘Oh, where is Curacao?’ I tried to explain it, and then I asked the question, ‘Do you guys know where Aruba is?’” Room said. “‘Oh yeah, I know Aruba.’ It’s like, yeah, we’re actually the biggest island there, and we’re next to Aruba. … Now I get messages from people from Ohio who go to Curacao on vacation.”
What to know about Curacao’s World Cup squad
Curacao is coached by Dick Advocaat, who previously managed World Cup squads for the Netherlands and South Korea. He took over Curacao in 2024 and briefly stepped away earlier this year to care for his ill daughter before returning to his position in May. At 78, he will become the oldest coach in World Cup history.
Curacao’s well-organized defense is anchored by Room and Zurich right-back Livano Comenencia. Chong, Bacuna and his younger brother Juninho Bacuna bring quality to the attack, which relies on speedy counters. The team’s biggest strength, according to Room, is how close-knit the players are.
Curacao is considered the underdog of World Cup Group E, which also includes Germany, Ecuador and Ivory Coast.
“It’s normal that we are the underdog, but maybe that also gives a little bit of pressure to the other team so we can use that,” Room said. “We have to prove ourselves for the world. But I think a lot of people were also thinking Jamaica would make it to the World Cup, not us, so at the end of the day, we’ve been there already. Now we want to show what we’re made of.”
Chong said that his family and friends back on the island have all expressed the same sentiment: By uniting Curacao through their historic achievement, they’ve already won.
Chong hopes to inspire the next generation of Curacaoans as well as people in older generations, like his father, who never dreamed Curacao would qualify for the World Cup but who opened doors for the current team to walk through.
“I said to the boys, the only obligation we have now is to represent Curacao in a good way, whether we win or lose,” Chong said. “Hopefully in a few years time when Curacao qualifies again for a World Cup, these kids can go and say, ‘I was inspired by the 2026 World Cup.’”
