Following a constitutional change that allowed its predecessor, the Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, to become a unified constituent country consisting of several island territories as the Netherlands Antilles and its dissolution in 2010, Curaçao has played under a new constitutional status as a separate constituent country since 2011.[3]
In November 2025, they topped their qualifying group and qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming the smallest nation by both population and area to qualify for the tournament.[7] Curaçao became the first non-sovereign national team from the Americas to qualify for the FIFA World Cup (and fifth overall after England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which are constituent countries of the United Kingdom and not independent countries), since the Dutch East Indies, a Dutch colony that competed in the 1938 tournament.
The first national football team to bear the name Curaçao was the Territory of Curaçao national football team, which made its debut in 1924 in an away match against neighboring Aruba, a match which the Territory of Curaçao won four to nil.
In December 1954, the territory of Curaçao became the Netherlands Antilles, and following a constitutional change the Netherlands Antilles were designated a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which included the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten. The name of the Curaçao team changed to Netherlands Antilles national team, representing all six islands.
In 1986, Aruba became a country within the Kingdom in its own right, with its own Aruba national team and subsequently Aruban players no longer represented the Netherlands Antilles.
On 10 October 2010, the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved, and Curaçao and Sint Maarten became countries in their own right, while Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius became part of the Netherlands proper. Although not a sovereign state, Curaçao (the largest island territory in the Netherlands Antilles) appeared on the FIFA member list in March 2011, as successor of the Netherlands Antilles.
As well as taking on the Netherlands Antilles' FIFA membership, Curaçao was recognised as the direct successor of the former (similarly to how Serbia is regarded the direct successor of Yugoslavia, and Russia for the Soviet Union), and took on its historical records and FIFA ranking.
They played their first match as the newly formed Curaçao national team on 20 August 2011 against Dominican Republic at the Estadio Panamericano, with the match ending in a 1–0 loss for Curaçao.
After a strong qualification campaign, Curaçao defeated host Martinique in the semi-finals of the 2017 edition of the Caribbean Cup with the score of 2–1. They met defending champions and six-time winners, Jamaica. Curaçao won their first ever Caribbean Cup by defeating Jamaica, again with the scoreline of 2–1 which see Curaçao qualified to their first ever CONCACAF Gold Cup. Curaçao was then drawn in Group C in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup alongside Jamaica, El Salvador and Mexico but unfortunately, lost all of their group stage matches.
In the next edition of the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Curaçao was then drawn in Group C alongside El Salvador, Jamaica and Honduras. On 21 June 2019, Curaçao got their first win in the CONCACAF Gold Cup where Leandro Bacuna scored in a 1–0 win over Honduras. With a much needed win to qualified to the next round, Juriën Gaari scored a stoppage time goal against Jamaica in the last group stage fixtures which saw Curaçao finishing as runners-up in the group stage thus qualifying to the knockout stage. In the quarter-finals, Curaçao then bowed out from the tournament after losing to United States.
FIFA World Cup debut
In November 2025, during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Curaçao drew 0–0 against Jamaica, making Curaçao the smallest nation by both population and area (only five weeks after Cape Verde had broken the area record) ever to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in history.[8] Their manager, Dick Advocaat, might become the oldest manager in history to coach a team the during the FIFA World Cup.[9][10] This will also be Curaçao's debut at a FIFA tournament finals.
Caps and goals do not include matches played for the former Netherlands Antilles, but solely appearances for the thereout subsequent country of Curaçao.
Current squad
The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Bermuda and Jamaica on 13 and 18 November 2025; respectively.[16] Caps and goals as of 18 November 2025, after the match against Jamaica.
RET = Player retired from the national team. SUS = Player is serving suspension. INJ = Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE = Preliminary squad. WD = Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
Official regional competition organized by CCCF. It was a predecessor confederation of CONCACAF, affiliated with FIFA as the former governing body of football in Central America and Caribbean, from 1938 to 1961.
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1 (19 January 2026) [1] 
Dominican Republic 1–0 Curaçao 
Argentina 7–0 Curaçao 
