Curaçao, the small Caribbean island, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with only 155,826 habitants according to 2023 census, which recently made history by becoming the smallest country to qualify for World Cup, where they will debut next year, suffered a setback four months before the competition as their head manager Dick Advocaat has resigned.
Advocaat, who led Curaçao to a miraculous qualification besting the much larger Jamaica in the CONCACAF qualifiers last November, resigned to take care of his daughter, facing health issues. "I have always said that family comes before football. This is therefore a natural decision", he said, although "I will greatly miss Curaçao, its people and my colleagues", considering earning qualification for the small country one of the highlights of my career.
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Dick Advocaat, 78, has had a long managerial career spanning four decades, including recently countries like Irak, Serbia, Russia, as well as clubs like Feyenoord, Utrecht, Fenerbahçe or PSV. He has been in World Cup before, including South Korea in 2006 and the Netherlands in 1994, reaching quarterfinals.