Curacao have etched their name into World Cup history, scoring their first-ever goal at the tournament during FIFA World Cup 2026 — and they did it against Germany, one of football's great powers.

The encounter took place at the NRG Stadium in Houston, where the tiny Caribbean nation punched well above its weight on the grandest stage in football.

A nation smaller than Leeds

Curacao sits in the southern Caribbean Sea, roughly 40 miles north of Venezuela and 50 miles southeast of Aruba. Like Aruba, it remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with Dutch listed as one of three official languages alongside English.

The island covers just 171 square miles — making it smaller in area than the city of Leeds — and is home to a population of around 155,000 people. To put that figure in perspective, the entire population of Curacao could fit inside two World Cup stadiums.

Curacao also contains Klein Curacao, a tiny uninhabited island whose name simply translates to