On a humid Tuesday evening last November, in a stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, 11 men in royal-blue jerseys did almost nothing for 90 minutes—and made history. Curaçao, the Dutch Caribbean island known mainly for its golden beaches and electric-blue liqueur, held Jamaica to a goalless draw, and in so doing booked a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the first time ever.
Curaçao is a country of about 156,000 people. As The Associated Press noted, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the World Cup final will be played on July 19, has roughly half the capacity of Curaçao’s entire population.
That same month, on the other side of the planet, the Supreme Court of India was once again hearing a case about the constitution of the All India Football Federation, or AIFF, which supervises the Indian Super League. A drawn-out controversy involving politics in the federation, payment disputes with the company that runs the league, and the intercession of the court had put the league’s 2025-26 season “on hold.” Eleven of the country’s top clubs had written a joint letter to the federation president warning that Indian professional soccer was “paralyzed.” The league eventually began its truncated 12th season five months late in February 2026, with the Asian Football Confederation forced to grant India a one-season exemption from its mandatory 24-match minimum.
