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Curacao Becomes the Smallest Nation Ever to Qualify for a World Cup
How 2 Israeli newsrooms covered this story — translated into English and compared side by side.
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First reported by N12 · Jun 14, 2026
What happened
Curacao has qualified for the 2026 World Cup as the smallest nation ever to reach the tournament, by population and by land area. Veteran coach Dick Advocaat left the team before the decisive stage for family reasons, and Dean Gora took over. Most of the squad was born in the Netherlands, with only Tahith Chong born on Curacao.
- 01Curacao became the smallest country ever to qualify for a World Cup.
- 02The island has 155,000 people and only 444 square kilometers.
- 03Dick Advocaat left before the finals for family reasons.
- 04Dean Gora replaced him for the decisive qualifier and the tournament.
- 05Only Tahith Chong in the squad was born in Curacao.
Summary translated & synthesized from the sources below by baba. Read each original for the full report.
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