The smallest nation faces a major shock ahead of the 2026 World Cup

Coach Dick Advocaat has officially stepped down as head coach of the Curaçao national team with immediate effect.

The 78-year-old strategist left his position just 112 days before the tiny island nation embarks on its historic World Cup campaign due to personal reasons. Fred Rutten, who has not managed a team for nearly three years, will take over from Advocaat.

According to Voetbal International, the former Sunderland coach’s decision stems from his daughter’s health issues. Advocaat stated: “I have always said that family comes before football. Therefore, this was an obvious decision. However, that does not change how much I will miss Curaçao, its people, and my colleagues. Leading the smallest FIFA-ranked country to qualify for the World Cup is one of the highlights of my career. I am proud of the players, the coaching staff, and the leaders who trusted us.”

During his tenure as head coach of Curaçao, Advocaat achieved a remarkable feat. He led the team to qualify for the world’s biggest football tournament, making Curaçao the smallest nation ever to participate in a World Cup. This summer, the squad, which includes many players with dual Dutch nationality, will face Germany, Ecuador, and Ivory Coast in the group stage. Their World Cup journey begins on June 14.

Notably, the match that secured Curaçao’s World Cup spot took place while Advocaat was not on the sidelines. He had returned to the Netherlands for family reasons and had to watch the game on television.

“I was much more exhausted after that match than when I was on the field. You can organize everything as you want, but it still drains a lot of energy. It was an extremely important game,” he shared at the time.

Earlier, Advocaat had mentioned the possibility of ending his coaching career. If he had not secured World Cup qualification with Curaçao, it might have been his final stop, he revealed to Voetbal International. Given the current circumstances, the end of his coaching career is quite possible.

Over his 46-year coaching career, Advocaat has an extensive résumé with a total of 28 head coach positions. Besides Curaçao, he has led the Netherlands national team multiple times and also worked in the UAE, South Korea, Russia, Serbia, and Iraq.

At the club level, Advocaat has managed several Eredivisie teams such as PSV (in multiple terms), AZ, Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam, and FC Utrecht. From November 2022 to June 2023, he was the head coach of ADO Den Haag, which was his most recent club role.