They ran out of official Curacao football shirts nearly seven months ago.
Even so, there are queues outside the pop-up store at the Sambil Shopping Mall on the outskirts of the capital, Willemstad, where giant posters of the triumphant national team line the walls, the air filled with a mix of celebration for what has been achieved and excitement for what is still to come.
Curacao (pronounced cure-uh-sow but still a mouthful) is the smallest country ever to have qualified for the World Cup, with a population of just 156,000.
That makes it about the size of Middlesborough – but with better weather, given that it sits in the Caribbean sea some 35 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Its beaches are pristine; its multi-lingual people gentle; its countryside arid.
Although autonomous, Curacao is part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and several of the players were born in Holland but have at least one native Curacaoan parent.
The country depends largely on Dutch tourists to sustain its economy, especially since the closure of its vast oil refinery in 2019, which had been processing Venezuelan crude for nearly 100 years until relations between the two countries soured.
A different kind of fuel is now firing up the nation, a potent combination of pride, passion – and outright disbelief. It’s fairytale stuff, which will appeal to Hollywood if the 2500/1 rank outsiders could somehow take all three points against Germany in their opening match on June 14 in Houston.
The tranquil Caribbean island of Curacao is being disturbed by a case of World Cup fever!
The Blue Wave have some of the most passionate fans going – and they’re ready to take the World Cup by storm
‘This is the most wonderful thing that could happen in my lifetime,’ says Giovanni Atalita, 64, a civil servant at the country’s Ministry of Health, Environment and Nature. ‘We have been working toward this moment since 2008, building and developing football on the island with the hope of one day competing with the world’s best – and here we are.’
Atalita will be spending three weeks in America with his two grown-up daughters, attending all Curacao’s group games, which, in addition to Germany, includes encounters with Ecuador and Ivory Coast.
Dean and Megali Gorre, who live partly in Curacao and partly in Amsterdam, will also be in America, but for different reasons. They are the parents of Kenji Gorre, the team’s 31 year old winger, who, after dropping out of the Manchester United academy, had stints at Swansea City and Northampton Town, before signing for his current club, Maccabi Haifa, in Israel.
Gorre senior is not just a proud father. He’s the assistant coach of the Curacao side and was in charge on November 17 in Kingston’s National Stadium, when just a draw was needed to qualify at the expense of Jamaica, who were managed by ex England coach Steve McLaren.
It was some night. Gorre was standing in for head coach Dick Advocaat, whose daughter was desperately ill at the time. Most people thought Jamaica would brush Curacao aside, but the Blue Wave, as the team is known, held on – just.
‘The second half seemed to go on forever,’ says Gorre. ‘Jamaica threw everything at us, hitting the woodwork three times, including in the 87th minute. But we still tried to play an attacking game’.
Then, in stoppage time, Jamaica were awarded a penalty after substitute Jeremy Antonisse’s sliding tackle brought down Dujuan Richards. Although the Salvadoran referee had pointed immediately to the spot, the decision was reviewed by VAR and overturned.
Pandemonium ensued at the final whistle, both in the stadium and on the streets of Willemstad, while McClaren immediately resigned.
Their qualification for the tournament is miraculous but they don’t just want to be also-rans
Curacao have been bringing the party vibes to their team bus during their travels
The Caribbean island squad have gone viral for travelling around in a dilapidated school bus
They have been socialising with supporters ahead of being the tiniest nation ever to play in the World Cup
‘If someone had said at the start of the campaign that we were going to the World Cup and that my son would be part of the squad, I would have laughed,’ says Mr Gorre.
It’s no laughing matter now. Curacao played their final warm up game against Aruba, their Dutch island neighbours, on June 7, winning 4-0 and then flew to their World Cup base in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In a friendly last month against Scotland at Hampden Park, they lost 4-1, largely due to Jurgen Locadia, the ex-Brighton striker, picking up a red card in the 38th minute. But Gorre, a former professional footballer himself, who played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Blackpool (and whose wife starred in the first series of The Real Housewives of Cheshire), says confidence remains high.
‘We know on paper that we don’t stand a chance but the ball is round – and anything can happen,’ he says. ‘We need just one win from the three games to proceed and I believe we can do it.’
They would be doing it without any household names – although three members of the squad play their football in England. Middlesbrough winger Sontje Hansen, Sheffield United’s Tahith Chong and Shurandy Sambo, who is on loan at Sparta Rotterdam from Burnley, are all in the squad.
Whatever happens, Advocaat will be making World Cup history. At 78, the Dutchman – who managed Rangers and Sunderland and took the Netherlands to the quarterfinals in 1994 – becomes the oldest coach to compete in a World Cup, beating the record held by Otto Rehhagel, who was 71 when in charge of Greece in 2010.
Following his daughter’s illness, Advocaat resigned and was replaced by fellow Dutchman Fred Rutten. But there was a clamour, both from supporters and sponsors, for Advocaat to be reinstated once his daughter’s health had improved – and Rutten duly fell on his sword.
The country now awaits its finest hour. Blue is the colour wherever you go on the island; huge screens are being erected in the capital and billboards proclaim: ‘one island, one dream’; ‘the wait is over’ and ‘the day has come’.
Covering a total area of 444km squared, Curacao is so small you could fit nearly four of them inside Greater London – and the island only has a population of just over 150,000 people
Dutch coach Dick Advocaat has helped transform the side after taking charge in 2024
There may be no official Curacao football strips up for grabs – but there’s no shortage of unofficial ones. Almost every shop in Willemstad pays homage to the football team, with many showing the beaming smile of Leandro Bacuna, the captain, who wears the number 10 shirt.
Bacuna, 34, spent three seasons at Aston Villa and now plays for Turkish side Iğdır F.K. In Curacao he’s already everyone’s hero – but if he and his teammates can somehow survive the group stage and reach the Round of 32, they will become gods overnight.
