Three-and-a-half years after Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup trophy at Doha's Lusail Stadium, the next edition of sport's biggest tournament has begun. Even before it kicked off, the 2026 World Cup is certain to make history, set to be the biggest ever, with 48 teams competing for glory, and matches hosted in stadiums across three different countries in another first, reports joe.co.uk.
Since March's play-offs — with the exception of Iran, which has seriously considered dropping out due to ongoing military tension with the USA, and may yet do so — the 48 competing teams have been locked in and ready to compete. Incredibly, within that number of 48 teams, there are actually only 47 different fully independent countries. As such, a little-known geographical rule allows one of the competing nations to effectively enter two teams, even though they will compete under the banners of different regions in separate continents.
The surprise situation relates to the South American team of Curacao, which is playing at its first ever World Cup finals this summer. Although Curacao is an "autonomous constituent country," it is not fully independent from the Netherlands, with the Dutch government still maintaining responsibility for areas of policy like defence and foreign relations. Curacao was colonised by Dutch powers in the 17th Century and has remained under consistent European control ever since, making it one of the few South American nations to have never achieved independent sovereignty.
The relationship between Curacao and the Netherlands is somewhat similar to that of Greenland and Denmark, which would have brought the Danes into military conflict with their NATO ally had Donald Trump progressed with plans to annex the island. Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which includes the Netherlands, Aruba, Sint Maarten, and Curacao. The Dutch monarch is the head of state of Curacao. As a Curacao citizen, one can live and work freely in the Netherlands. They also speak Dutch.
Tahith Chong is the only player in the Curacao 26-man squad that was born there. The other 25 players were born in the Netherlands. So, alongside the Netherlands team, which made it into the tournament via European qualifying, those from the Dutch nation will also be able to support Curacao this summer.
