Netherlands Antilles national football team

This article is about the Netherlands Antilles men's national football team (1958–2010). For the national team prior to 1958, see Territory of Curaçao national football team. For the Curaçao national team established in 2011, see Curaçao national football team. For the women's team, see Netherlands Antilles women's national football team.

Netherlands Antilles

1958–2010
Nickname	De Antilopen
Association	Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Home stadium	Stadion Ergilio Hato
FIFA code	ANT
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Highest	118 (July 1995)
Lowest	188 (December 2003)
First international
Netherlands Antilles 3–1 Panama   (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 4 March 1948)
Last international
Netherlands Antilles 2–2 Suriname   (Willemstad, Curaçao; 31 October 2010)
Biggest win
Netherlands Antilles 15–0 Puerto Rico   (Caracas, Venezuela; 15 January 1959)
Biggest defeat
Netherlands 8–0 Netherlands Antilles   (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 5 September 1962)   Mexico 8–0 Netherlands Antilles   (Port-au-Prince, Haiti; 8 December 1973)
CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1963 )
Best result	Third place, 1963, 1969

The Netherlands Antilles national football team (Dutch : Nederlands-Antilliaans voetbalelftal; Papiamento : Selekshon Antiano di futbòl) was the national team of the former Netherlands Antilles from 1958 to 2010. It was controlled by the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie. The NAVU consisted of Curaçao and Bonaire. Aruba split in 1986 and has its own team.

The Netherlands Antilles team never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. The country managed to come third in the CONCACAF championships of 1963 and 1969; during the 1963 tournament they were unofficial football world champions for four days after beating Mexico and before losing to Costa Rica. ^[1]

History

Under the name Curaçao, the team played its first international game in 1934 (against Suriname, which was then still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well) and continued to use the name Curaçao until the qualifications for the World Championships of 1958, ^[2] although the name of the area had changed from "Territory of Curaçao" to "Netherlands Antilles" in 1948.

Dissolution of country

The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October 2010, and the five constituent islands took on new constitutional statuses within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, ^[3] forming two new countries (Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and three new special municipalities of the Netherlands (namely Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius ).

At the time of the dissolution, the team was about to compete in the qualification tournament for the 2010 Caribbean Championship, and finally competed under an obsolete country name. Sint Maarten national football team, as well as Bonaire national football team are already members of CONCACAF, but are not members of FIFA. The Curaçao national football team took the place of the Netherlands Antilles as a FIFA member. ^[4]

Successor teams

Both FIFA and CONCACAF consider the Curaçaoan national team to be the direct and sole successor of the Netherlands Antilles national football team. The teams of other territories were inducted as fully new members.

Nation	FIFA Active	International tournament(s)	Round
Curaçao 2011-present	(since 2011)	2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup	Group stage
		2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup	Quarter-final
		2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup	Withdrew
		2026 FIFA World Cup	Qualified
Sint Maarten 2010-present	(since 2010)
Bonaire 2010-present	(since 2010)
Sint Eustatius	n/a
Saba	n/a

Coaching history

Caretaker manager are listed in italics.

• Pedro Celestino Dacunha (1957–65)
• Wilhelm Canword (1973)
• Jan Zwartkruis ^[a] (1978–81)
• Rob Groener (1983–85)
• Wilhelm Canword (1988) ^[5]
• Jan Zwartkruis (1992–94) ^[6]
• Etienne Siliee (1996) ^[7]
• Henry Caldera (2000–02) ^[8]
• Pim Verbeek (2003–05) ^[9]
• Etienne Siliee (2005–07) ^[10]
• Leen Looyen (2007–09) ^[11]
• Remko Bicentini (2009–10) ^[12]
• Henry Caldera (2010) ^[13]

1. Jan Zwartkruis served as manager of the Netherlands as well as the Netherlands Antilles concurrently from 1978 to 1981

Competitive record

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record									qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as Territory of Curaçao									as Territory of Curaçao
1930	did not enter								did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958	did not qualify								3	1	0	2	4	7
as Netherlands Antilles									as Netherlands Antilles
1962	did not qualify								6	2	2	2	4	14
1966									4	1	2	1	2	3
1970									4	1	0	3	3	9
1974									CONCACAF Championship
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994									2	0	1	1	1	4
1998									2	0	1	1	1	2
2002									2	0	1	1	1	6
2006									4	1	0	3	4	8
2010									4	2	1	1	3	1
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		31	8	8	15	23	54

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Third place	6	3	0	3	10	8		2	2	0	0	4	1
1965	Fifth place	5	0	2	3	4	16		Qualified automatically
1967	did not qualify								4	0	2	2	4	6
1969	Third place	5	2	1	2	9	12	Qualified automatically
1971	Withdrew								Withdrew
1973	Sixth place	5	0	2	3	4	19	Qualified automatically
1977	did not qualify								2	0	0	2	1	9
1981									4	0	3	1	1	2
1985									2	0	1	1	0	4
1989									4	2	0	2	4	7
1991									Caribbean Cup
1993	did not enter
1996	did not qualify
1998
2000
2002	did not enter
2003	did not qualify								4	1	1	2	3	6
2005	did not enter								Caribbean Cup
2007	did not qualify
2009
2011
Total	Third Place	21	5	5	11	27	55	22	5	7	10	17	35

CCCF Championship

CCCF Championship record
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as Territory of Curaçao
1941	Third place	4	1	2	1	16	12
1943	did not enter
1946
1948	Fourth place	8	2	2	4	14	16
1951	did not enter
1953	Fourth place	6	2	2	2	17	9
1955	Runners-up	6	4	0	2	11	7
1957	Runners-up	4	2	1	1	7	4
as Netherlands Antilles
1960	Runners-up	4	2	2	0	9	7
1961	First round	3	1	1	1	4	5
Total	Runners-up	35	14	10	11	78	60

CFU Caribbean Cup

CFU Championship & Caribbean Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1978	did not qualify								4	1	1	2	1	5
1979	did not enter								did not enter
1981
1983	did not qualify								Result Unknown
1985	did not enter								did not enter
1988
1989	Group stage	2	0	2	0	2	2	4	3	0	1	21	4
1990	did not qualify							2	0	2	0	2	2
1991								2	0	0	2	0	5
1992								3	1	1	1	3	3
1993	did not enter							did not enter
1994
1995	did not qualify							5	3	1	1	11	11
1996								1	0	0	1	0	1
1997								1	0	0	1	1	2
1998	Group stage	3	0	0	3	2	9	3	2	1	0	6	4
1999	did not qualify							2	0	1	1	2	4
2001	did not enter							did not enter
2005
2007	did not qualify							3	0	1	2	1	7
2008								5	1	1	3	5	11
2010								3	0	1	2	5	7
Total	Group stage	5	0	2	3	4	11	38	11	10	17	58	66

Olympic Games

• –1980: Amateur squads
• 1984–1988: Professional squads
• 1992–present : Under-23 squads

Olympic Games record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as Territory of Curaçao									as Territory of Curaçao
1928	did not enter								Declined participation
1936
1948
1952	First round	1	0	0	1	1	2		—
1956	did not enter								Declined participation
as Netherlands Antilles									as Netherlands Antilles
1960	did not qualify								2	0	1	1	3	6
1964	did not enter								Declined participation
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992 to present	Under-23 Tournament								Under-23 Tournament
Total	First round	1	0	0	1	1	2		2	0	1	1	3	6

Pan American Games

• 1951–1983: Amateur squads

Pan American Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as Territory of Curaçao
1951	did not enter
1955	Bronze Medal	6	2	0	4	11	13
as Netherlands Antilles
Since 1959	did not enter
Total	Bronze Medal	6	2	0	4	11	13

Central American and Caribbean Games

• 1930–1946: Full senior squads
• 1950–1986: Amateur squads

Central American and Caribbean Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as Territory of Curaçao
1930	did not enter
1935
1938
1946	Bronze Medal	6	3	2	1	25	10
1950	Gold Medal	6	4	1	1	20	6
1954	did not enter
as Netherlands Antilles
1959	Silver Medal	4	2	1	1	21	5
1962	Gold Medal	5	5	0	0	16	5
1966	Silver Medal	5	4	0	1	11	4
1970	Silver Medal	*	*	*	*	*	*
1974	Unknown
1978	Group stage	5	0	0	5	3	16
1982	Group stage	3	1	1	1	2	6
1986	Group stage	2	0	1	1	1	3
Since 1990	Under-23 Tournament
Total	Gold Medal	36	19	6	11	99	55

All-time record against other nations

Updated 31 May 2012 ^[14]

Team	Pld	W	D	L
Haiti	18	1	4	13
Trinidad and Tobago	17	1	6	10
Suriname	16	5	4	7
El Salvador	16	1	4	11
Costa Rica	15	3	1	11
Mexico	12	2	3	7
Jamaica	10	4	3	7
Honduras	10	2	4	4
Cuba	9	6	1	2
Antigua and Barbuda	9	5	2	2
Guatemala	9	2	5	2
Nicaragua	7	6	0	1
Panama	7	4	1	2
Venezuela	6	3	1	2
Guyana	6	1	1	4
Puerto Rico	4	4	0	0
Grenada	4	1	3	0
United States	4	0	2	2
Aruba	2	1	1	0
Dominican Republic	2	0	1	1
Netherlands	2	0	1	1
Saint Lucia	1	0	1	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	0	1	0
Argentina	1	0	0	1
Barbados	1	0	0	1
Bermuda	1	0	0	1
Cayman Islands	1	0	0	1
Total	191	52	50	89

Honours

Continental

• CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup:
  • Third place (2): 1963, 1969

Regional

• CFU Caribbean Cup:
  • Fourth place (1): 1989

Friendly

• Phillip Seaga Cup :
  • Winners (1): 1963
• Inter Expo Cup / Chippie Polar Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2004
  • Runners-up (2): 2006, 2008
  • Fourth place (1): 2005
• Parbo Bier Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2004

Competition				Total
World Cup	0	0	0	0
CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup	0	0	2	2
Confederations Cup	0	0	0	0
Olympic Games	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	2	2

See also

• Bonaire national football team
• Curaçao national football team (1921–1958) – the team before the change of country name to Netherlands Antilles
• Curaçao national football team – the successor to the team
• Sint Maarten national football team
• Netherlands national football team

References

1. "UFWC results". Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
2. "History of the FIFA worldcup preliminary competition (By year)" (PDF). FIFA. 19 September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
3. "Antillen opgeheven op 10-10-2010" (in Dutch). NOS. 1 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
4. "Curaçao page on". FIFA. 12 November 2011. Archived from the original on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
5. "1988 Matches North and Central America and Caribbean". RSSSF . Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
6. "Netherlandse Antillen " Selectie FIFA WK KW Concacaf 1992/1993". Voetbal.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
7. "1996 Matches North and Central America and Caribbean". RSSSF . Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
8. "Von Trinidad bis Uruguay: 777 Spiele und 2452 Tore". FIFA. 17 May 2002. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
9. "Pim Verbeek nieuwe bondscoach Antillen". Voetbal International. 15 October 2003. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
10. "Digicel Caribbean Championship...Dominica is 3rd team in Guyana group, Aruba for group A". Kaieteur News. 28 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
11. "Nederlandse Antillen in zee met Leen Looyen". Voetbal International. 17 December 2007. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
12. "'Bondscoach' Remko Bicentini hoopt op finale tegen NEC". De Gelderlander. 22 May 2010. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
13. "Nederlandse Antillen | Antias Hulandes Squad (2010)". National Football Teams. 31 October 2010. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
14. "Curaçao Match history". Soccerway.com. 11 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2012.

External links

• Netherlands Antilles at FIFA.com (archived)