When the Caribbean island of Curaçao became the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, giant celebrations broke out. The players, who had achieved a heroic 0-0 draw in Jamaica, were due to land back in Curaçao in late afternoon. But by noon, many of the island’s 156,000 inhabitants were lining the roads, recalls national football federation president Gilbert Martina. His personal response: “Tears, tears, tears of joy.”
“Cinderella story,” he murmurs. But Curaçao is the Cinderella of Cinderellas. Football isn’t even the island’s main sport. There are only 28 clubs with men’s teams, Martina says, and the local league was recently suspended for two-and-a-half years over what he calls “conflicts”. Veteran goalkeeper Eloy Room didn’t have a club when he shut out Jamaica. The coach, Dick Advocaat, quit before the game to be with his ill daughter, but suddenly returned last week, to become the oldest manager in World Cup history. How did Curaçao do it?
For about 150 years until 1815, the island off the coast of Venezuela was the centre of the Dutch slave trade. Later it joined the Netherlands Antilles. In 2010 it became an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, though still not an independent state. When the island began fielding a national team in 2011, the aim was to recruit Dutch pros with Curaçao roots. But the team couldn’t afford to play many games, because the federation struggled to fund travel.