Guinness World Records officially recognize the Caribbean island nation of Curaçao as the smallest country by population to ever qualify for football’s global premier tournament.
On Tuesday, Guinness World Records presented the official certificate to the President of the Curaçao Football Federation, Gilbert Martina, in Houston, USA.
With a population of just 156,115 at the time of qualification, Curaçao surpassed the previous record held by Iceland, which had approximately 350,000 during its 2018 qualification.
In a statement, the GWR said, “The smallest country (by population) to qualify for the football (soccer) FIFA World Cup is Curaçao, who had a population of 156,115 people when they qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Kingston, Jamaica, on 19 November 2025.
