Team Curaçao Arrives at the World Cup With Much of the Island in Tow.

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Qualifying for the world’s biggest sporting event meant everything for residents of the Caribbean island country. Listen · 3:53 min Share full article Curaçao qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history. The country’s fans, decked out in blue, came to watch their team take on Germany.

Credit... Annegret Hilse/Reuters By Mitch Smith Reporting from Houston June 14, 2026, 2:41 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Times on Google The Curaçao fans arrived by the busload, draped in their nation’s blue banner, singing and cheering as they made their way toward Houston Stadium for a match that almost no one expected them to win.

But the score, many of the fans said, would not especially matter. Their Caribbean island country, which has around 160,000 residents, was in the World Cup. And that was everything. “It’s something I cannot explain: Something big, something out of this world,” said Monique Kroon, 58, a baker who made the trip from Curaçao to Texas with her husband despite not being much of a soccer fan. “If I die tomorrow,” she added, “I’ll die happy.” Mizzuti Werleman, 48, who works in air traffic control in Curaçao, had blue feathers in her hair and a blue pompom in her hand.

ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT “It’s not about winning,” she said before heading into the stadium. Just by being there, she said, “we already won.” On a Houston morning that alternated between merely humid and humid with rain, a not-insignificant percentage of Curaçao’s population posed for photos with sheriff’s deputies, engaged in friendly banter with their German opponents and snacked on brisket sandwiches from a food truck parked outside the stadium.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like. Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains. Share full article Related Content ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Site Index Site Information Navigation © 2026 The New York Times Company NYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapHelpSubscriptionsManage Privacy Preferences To leave without signing in, use your browser's Back button.

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