Curaçao clinched a historic World Cup qualification on Tuesday after holding Jamaica to a resilient 0-0 draw, becoming the smallest nation by population ever to reach the global showpiece.
The Caribbean island nation, reported by Fox Sports, will join fellow CONCACAF qualifiers Panama and Haiti at the tournament.
Undefeated throughout the qualifiers, Curaçao topped Group B with 12 points, sealing their first-ever World Cup ticket.
Their achievement came despite the absence of head coach Dick Advocaat, who travelled back to the Netherlands over the weekend for family-related matters.
Advocaat, 78, previously managed the Netherlands across three separate spells and also coached South Korea, Belgium and Russia before taking charge of Curaçao.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Curaçao’s population stood at 156,115 as of last January, making it the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup.
The record was previously held by Iceland, which reached the 2018 World Cup with a population of just over 350,000.
