The Cinderellas of the 2026 World Cup

Curacao has made history by qualifying for the first time ever for a World Cup. It is one of the teams making its debut in the orbital event.

Countries that are hard to find on the map and that are several times smaller than... Cyprus, are preparing to be in the finals of a World Cup, which will not resemble any of the previous ones!.

Since March 14, 2023, when it was announced by FIFA that the World Cup would be expanded from 32 to 48 teams, many countries automatically began to hope. Countries that until recently had no expectation of participating in a World Cup, began to dream. And some of these dreams came true.

Some mythical states, islands 5 times smaller than... Cyprus (!), Cinderellas that came from... nowhere. They achieved the impossible! Until recently, we were unaware of their existence. Next summer we will see them in the stadiums of America (USA, Mexico, Canada).

So far, we know 42 of the 48 countries that will be "present" at the big football event, which will start on June 11 and end on July 18, 2026.

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Of the 42, five are going to the World Cup for the first time. From Asia, the first-time participants are Uzbekistan and Jordan. From Africa, it is Cape Verde. And from North-Central America, Curaçao is already in the tournament, as is Pierre's Haiti.

In a historic night for world football, Curaçao wrote its name in the record books, as it became the smallest country to secure participation in the World Cup. Curaçao is an island of 155,000 inhabitants located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea. It consists of the island of Curaçao and the uninhabited islet of Klein Curaçao. Until October 2010, it belonged to the Netherlands Antilles.

An unimaginable football fairy tale of an island living its dream. A beautiful island that is obviously not just much smaller than Greece. In fact, it is 8 times smaller than… Cyprus with its 923,000 inhabitants!.

An unrepeatable epic! A unique epic! Which has no precedent in the annals of world football. This incredible qualification is an event that will be discussed for a long time, at least until the start of the tournament and during it of course.

And the “Cinderellas” that… are coming

Of course, apart from the incredible countries that have already qualified for the World Cup, there are also some others that are very close to a historic qualification! The following six countries are going to participate in the intercontinental play offs for two tickets: Iraq from Asia, Bolivia from South America, Suriname and Jamaica from North/Central America,… New Caledonia from Oceania and the Democratic Republic of Congo from Africa.

Surinam, no.126 in the FIFA world ranking, is very close to the most glorious moment in its history, as it qualified for the intercontinental play offs and will fight until the end for a historic qualification! It is a former Dutch colony that became an independent state in 1975 and is now one step away from the absolute dream. In fact, they are two matches away from the ultimate dream and if they manage to qualify for the World Cup, it will be the second biggest surprise after Curaçao.

New Caledonia has won Oceania's ticket to the play-offs, in an unprecedented situation for the island of 292,639 inhabitants located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean! In fact, New Caledonia is listed as follows on Wikipedia: "Collective and overseas possession of France in the Pacific Ocean"!.

It is also worth mentioning that of the countries participating in the intercontinental play-offs, Iraq has also never been to a World Cup, as has Jamaica, while Bolivia's last appearance in the tournament was back in the USA in 1994! That's 32 years ago!