Curacao.. the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup

Curacao, the small Caribbean country, the least populous country, has qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals, while Haiti has reserved its place in the tournament for the first time in 52 years, alongside Panama.

The three teams participating in the CONACACF qualifiers (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) join the United States, Canada and Mexico, which will host the 2026 finals next summer.

Curacao maintained first place in Group B with a goalless draw with Jamaica in Kingston the day before yesterday, making it the country with the least population to qualify for the World Cup (156,000 people).

It is the first participation in the history of this small Caribbean island located north of Venezuela.

The “Blue Wave” team finished the qualifiers at the top of Group Two with 12 points from six matches, one point ahead of Jamaica.

Curaçao is the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup, which will be expanded to include 48 teams next year for the first time.

Iceland, which qualified for the 2018 World Cup and has a population of about 350,000 people, was the smallest country to qualify previously.

Also in Curacao, Haiti booked its ticket to the finals for the second time after 1974, by defeating Nicaragua 2-0. Thanks to this win, and Honduras’ 0-0 draw with its host, Costa Rica, Haiti topped Group C with 11 points, two points behind Honduras, which failed to qualify for the global playoff on goal difference from Suriname.

Haiti will participate in the World Cup for only the second time after its first appearance in the 1974 edition.

Panama came at the top of Group A after concluding the qualifiers with a 3-0 victory over its guest, El Salvador, and will participate in the football tournament for the second time after 2018.

Suriname and Jamaica, the two best second-placed teams in CONCACAF, will compete in the global playoff in March, along with Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bolivia and New Caledonia, to compete for two tickets to the finals.