Netherlands Antilles national football team

This article is about the Netherlands Antilles national football team (1958–2010). For the national team prior to 1958, see Territory of Curaçao national football team. For the Curaçao national team established in 2011, see Curaçao national football team.

Netherlands Antilles

Nickname(s)	De Antilopen
Association	Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Head coach	Remko Bicentini
Captain	Robin Nelisse
Home stadium	Stadion Ergilio Hato
FIFA code	ANT
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	151
Highest	118 (July 1995)
Lowest	188 (December 2003)
First international
Neth. Antilles 3–1 Panama (Ciudad de Guatemala; 4 March 1948) Last International Neth. Antilles 2–2 Suriname (Willemstad, 31 October 2010)
Biggest win
Neth. Antilles 15–0 Puerto Rico (Venezuela; 15 January 1959)
Biggest defeat
Netherlands 8–0 Neth. Antilles (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 5 September 1962) Mexico 8–0 Neth. Antilles (Port-au-Prince, Haiti; 8 December 1973)
CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1963)
Best result	Third, 1963, 1969

The Netherlands Antilles national football team (Dutch, "Nederlands-Antilliaans voetbalelftal"; Papiamentu, "Selekshon Antiano di futbòl"), was the national team of the former Netherlands Antilles and was controlled by the Nederlands Antilliaanse Voetbal Unie. The NAVU consisted of Curaçao and Bonaire. Aruba split in 1986 and has its own team.

The Netherlands Antilles team never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. The country managed to come third in the CONCACAF championships of 1963 and 1969; for four days in March 1963 they could have been regarded as unofficial World Champions, beating Mexico 2–1 before losing to Costa Rica 0–1.

History

Under the name Curaçao, the team played its first international game in 1934 (against Suriname, which was then still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well) and continued to use the name Curaçao until the qualifications for the World Championships of 1958, although the name of the area had changed from "Territory of Curaçao" to "Netherlands Antilles" in 1948. In order to boost the competence of the team's players, in 1968 an agreement was nearly reached which would allow the Netherlands Antilles to play in the Combined Counties Football League in the lower divisions of the English football pyramid. The move would have seen the team adopting a home ground in the Netherlands as a base and travelling to play English teams as a regular team, albeit one without promotion or relegation prospects. However, the idea was shelved after initial promise due to cost concerns for most amateur teams.

Dissolution of country

The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October 2010, and the five constituent islands took on new constitutional statuses within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, forming 2 new countries (Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and 3 new special municipalities of the Netherlands (namely Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius).

At the time of the dissolution, the team was about to compete in the qualification tournament for the 2010 Caribbean Championship, and finally competed under an obsolete country name. Sint Maarten national football team, as well as Bonaire national football team are already members of CONCACAF, but are not members of FIFA. The Curaçao national football team took the place of the Netherlands Antilles as a FIFA member.

World Cup record

• 1950 to 1958 - Did not enter
• 1962 to 2010 - Did not qualify

2010 Qualifying

Round 1

Team 1	agg.	Team 2	Leg 1	Leg 2
Nicaragua	0–3	Netherlands Antilles	0–1	0–2

Round 2

Team 1	agg.	Team 2	Leg 1	Leg 2
Haiti	1–0	Netherlands Antilles	0–0	1–0

CONCACAF Championship record

• 1963 - 3rd place
• 1965 - 5th place
• 1967 - Did not qualify
• 1969 - 3rd place
• 1971 - Withdrew
• 1973 - 6th place
• 1977 to 1989 - Did not qualify

Gold Cup record

• 1991 - Did not enter
• 1993 - Withdrew
• 1996 to 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2002 - Did not enter
• 2003 - Did not qualify
• 2005 - Withdrew
• 2007 to 2011 - Did not qualify

Caribbean Cup record

• 1989 - Fourth place
• 1990 - Did not qualify
• 1991 - Did not enter
• 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1993 - Withdrew
• 1994 - Did not enter
• 1995 to 1997 - Did not qualify
• 1998 - Group stage
• 1999 - Did not qualify
• 2001 - Did not enter
• 2005 - Withdrew
• 2007 to 2010 - Did not enter

Pan American Games record

• 1951 - Did not compete
• 1955 - Bronze Medal
• 1959 to 2003 - Did not compete

All-time record against other nations

As of 31 May 2012

Team	Pld	W	D	L
Haiti	18	1	4	13
Trinidad and Tobago	17	1	6	10
Suriname	16	5	4	7
El Salvador	16	1	4	11
Costa Rica	15	3	1	11
Mexico	12	2	3	7
Jamaica	10	4	3	7
Honduras	10	2	4	4
Cuba	9	6	1	2
Antigua and Barbuda	9	5	2	2
Guatemala	9	2	5	2
Nicaragua	7	6	0	1
Panama	7	4	1	2
Venezuela	6	3	1	2
Guyana	6	1	1	4
Puerto Rico	4	4	0	0
Grenada	4	1	3	0
United States	4	0	2	2
Aruba	2	1	1	0
Dominican Republic	2	0	1	1
Netherlands	2	0	1	1
Saint Lucia	1	0	1	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	0	1	0
Argentina	1	0	0	1
Barbados	1	0	0	1
Bermuda	1	0	0	1
Cayman Islands	1	0	0	1
Total	191	52	50	89

Honours

Competition				Total
World Cup	0	0	0	0
CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup	0	0	2	2
Confederations Cup	0	0	0	0
Olympic Games	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	2	2

This is a list of honours for the senior Netherlands Antilles national team

• CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup:
  • Third place (2): 1963, 1969
• CFU Caribbean Cup:
  • Fourth place (1): 1989

Other tournaments

• Central American and Caribbean Games:
  • Winners (2): 1950, 1962
• Phillip Seaga Cup :
  • Winners (1): 1963
• Inter Expo Cup / Chippie Polar Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2004
  • Runners-up (2): 2006, 2008
  • Fourth place (1): 2005
• Parbo Bier Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2004

See also

• Bonaire national football team
• Curaçao national football team (The name of the team before the change of country name to Netherlands Antilles)
• Sint Maarten national football team
• Netherlands national football team

External links

• Netherlands Antilles at the FIFA website.