The Netherlands Antilles national football team was the national team of the former Netherlands Antilles from 1958 to 2010. It was controlled by the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie. The NAVU consisted of Curaçao and Bonaire. Aruba split in 1986 and has its own team. The Netherlands Antilles team never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. The country managed to come third in the CONCACAF championships of 1963 and 1969; during the 1963 tournament they were unofficial football world champions for four days after beating Mexico and before losing to Costa Rica.

History

Under the name Curaçao, the team played its first international game in 1934 (against Suriname, which was then still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well) and continued to use the name Curaçao until the qualifications for the World Championships of 1958, although the name of the area had changed from "Territory of Curaçao" to "Netherlands Antilles" in 1948.

Dissolution of country

The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October 2010, and the five constituent islands took on new constitutional statuses within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, forming 2 new countries (Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and 3 new special municipalities of the Netherlands (namely Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius). At the time of the dissolution, the team was about to compete in the qualification tournament for the 2010 Caribbean Championship, and finally competed under an obsolete country name. Sint Maarten national football team, as well as Bonaire national football team are already members of CONCACAF, but are not members of FIFA. The Curaçao national football team took the place of the Netherlands Antilles as a FIFA member.

Successor teams

Both FIFA and CONCACAF consider the Curaçaoan national team to be the direct and sole successor of the Netherlands Antilles national football team. The teams of other territories were inducted as fully new members.

Coaching history

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup

CCCF Championship

CFU Caribbean Cup

Olympic Games

Pan American Games

Central American and Caribbean Games

All-time record against other nations

Updated 31 May 2012

Honours

Major competitions

Continental

Regional

Friendly