Curaçao

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.

During the CONCACAF Qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Curaçao achieved a major feat when they defeated Cuba 1–1 with the away goals rule.

CONCACAF Gold Cup debut

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 its first ever Caribbean Cup by defeating Jamaica, again with the scoreline of 2–1, which saw Curaçao qualified to its 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 lost all of its 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 its first win in the CONCACAF Gold Cup when Leandro Bacuna scored in a 1–0 win over Honduras. With a much needed win to qualify 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. On 23 February 2026, manager Dick Advocaat would resign as Curaçao's manager due to personal reasons regarding the health of his daughter. Subsequently, Fred Rutten was appointed as head coach ahead of the World Cup. On May 11, after his daughter's health improved, Advocaat returned to the national team. This was also due to disagreements between the national team's players and Advocaat's successor Fred Rutten as well as pressure from the national team's main sponsor, Dutch airline company Corendon. With his return, Advocaat will become the oldest manager in history to coach a team during the FIFA World Cup.

Curaçao's first goal at a World Cup was scored by Livano Comenencia during their opener against Germany, which would eventually defeat the Blue Wave 7–1. In their second match, Curaçao earned their first-ever point at a World Cup in a 0–0 draw with Ecuador; Eloy Room finished one save short of Tim Howard's record for most saves in a World Cup match with 15, making him the first Curaçaoan player to be named Man of the Match in a World Cup contest.