#curacao

#curacao

The tiny island of Curacao is the smallest country to ever reach a FIFA World Cup, an honor it earned with an unbeaten run through an 18-month qualifying tournament in which it outscored opponents by nearly 2½ goals a game. But when it came time to introduce Curacao to the world during last Friday's tournament draw, the Great One shot well wide of the net, stealing its glory.

Germany's opponents at the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be Ecuador, Ivory Coast, and Curaçao. Germany have only played Ecuador once, in the 2006 World Cup that they hosted. The hosts won 3-0 in Berlin, with Bayern alumni Miroslav Klose (twice) and Lukas Podolski scoring the goals. As for Ivory Coast, Germany have also only faced them once, a 2-2 friendly draw in 2009.

Curacao salvaged a 0-0 draw with Jamaica on Tuesday to become the smallest nation by population to qualify for a World Cup and will be joined by CONCACAF sides Panama and Haiti which also booked their spots. Curacao finished as the only undefeated nation in the tournament and finished atop of Group B with 12 points to advance to the World Cup for the first time in its history.

The tiny Caribbean nation of Curacao became the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup as Haiti booked their return to the tournament for the first time in 52 years along with Panama. A nerve-shredding finale to the Concacaf qualifying campaign saw Curacao, with a population of just 156,000, squeeze into next year's finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico with a 0-0 draw against Jamaica in Kingston.