World Cup Identity Puzzle: Curaçao, Croatia and a unique soccer map

Just a few days ago, Livano Comenencia was a name known mainly to scouts, football obsessives and those who follow the game closely in the Caribbean. Then came a moment that became unforgettable for him and his country.

When Comenencia scored past Manuel Neuer to level the scores, it appeared to be just another World Cup equaliser. For Curacao, it was history – one that opens the door to a larger question about football, identity and nationhood.

The strike marked the island’s first goal in a FIFA World Cup. It provided a convenient entry point for one of the most interesting questions of the tournament: how can Curacao compete in the same World Cup as the Dutch country?

ONE KINGDOM, TWO TEAMS

To understand how Curacao and the Netherlands can share a World Cup stage, we need to travel beyond football.

Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although not a sovereign state, the island has significant autonomy in internal affairs, while matters such as defense and foreign policy remain the responsibility of the kingdom. Its inhabitants are of Dutch nationality, yet Curacao maintains its own government, institutions and, crucially for football, its own sporting identity. Curacao is located in the Atlantic Ocean, not far from the Caribbean.

This arrangement created an unusual reality. Although linked politically to the Netherlands, Curacao has long cultivated a distinct cultural identity shaped by its Caribbean history and society. Football has become one of the clearest expressions of this separate identity.

ALTERNATIVE ATLAS OF FOOTBALL

Football has become one of the most visible expressions of this identity. In many ways it reflects a wider truth about football. The sports map does not always correspond to the political map.

The United Kingdom competes as one nation in most international forums, yet England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland field separate football teams. The Faroe Islands do the same, although they remain in the Kingdom of Denmark.

THE ELEVEN THAT BECAME A NATION

The relationship between football and identity has long fascinated historians and writers. Historian Eric Hobsbawm, c Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Agenda, Myth, Realityfamously noted, “The imagined community of millions seems more real than a team of eleven named people.”

He also mentioned that few events illustrate this idea more vividly than the FIFA World Cup, where flags, anthems and soccer jerseys become powerful expressions of belonging.

Football writer Simon Kuper made a similar argument Football against the enemywhere he explored how football often acts as a mirror for societies, revealing how communities see themselves and want others to see them. “Football is the medium through which the hopes and fears, passions and hatreds of the world are expressed,” read one line in his book. National teams are rarely just sporting entities in this sense. They often become representations of history, memory and identity.

This difference is even more pronounced when we look at it through the lens of the former Yugoslavia.

WARNING OF YUGOSLAVIA AND ENTRY OF CROATIA

IN Behind the scenes: Football in Eastern Europefootball writer Jonathan Wilson argues that football in Yugoslavia often reflected the social, political and regional tensions that ran beneath the surface of the federation. Long before the eventual disintegration of the country, football clubs and rivalries became tools in which to find expression of competitive identity. Yugoslavian Euro 1992 team

Hobsbawm argued that nations often become tangible through sport. Wilson’s account of Yugoslavia shows how this process can also work in reverse: football can reveal emergent identities before they are fully politically realized.

For most of the twentieth century, Croatia existed as one of six republics within socialist Yugoslavia. The Croatian footballers represented the Yugoslavian national team, which was a formidable force in international football in its own right. Yet the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s changed both the political and sporting landscape of the Balkans.

After independence, Croatia established its own national team and quickly became one of football’s most compelling stories. His third place at the 1998 World Cup, less than ten years after independence, became more than a sporting achievement. For many Croats, it symbolized the arrival of a young nation on the global stage. The country’s success at the 2018 World Cup finals reinforced football’s role as a powerful expression of national identity. The 2018 Croatia team after finishing as runners-up at the 2018 FIFA World Cup

The Balkans offer several examples of the complex relationship between football and nationality. In 2006, Serbia and Montenegro arrived at the World Cup as one team, despite Montenegro voting for independence just weeks before the tournament. By the time the competition ended, the team itself had effectively become a relic of a state that no longer existed. Football once again found itself in a political reality that was changing faster than the sport’s own structures.

RECOGNITION FOR RECOGNITION

If Croatia demonstrates the role of football in the consequences of statehood, Kosovo illustrates another dimension of the relationship between sport and recognition.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but its status is still disputed by several countries. Nevertheless, in 2016 FIFA and UEFA admitted Kosovo as a member, allowing it to participate in international competitions despite ongoing disagreements over its political recognition. In many ways, the admission of Kosovo highlighted a reality that has long existed in football: the map of the sport does not always reflect the diplomatic one. The Kosovo national team almost qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

A NATION ON THE PLAYGROUND

Comparing Croatia with Curacao may seem imperfect, but revealing.

Croatia’s football identity emerged along with the creation of a sovereign state. Kosovo’s football identity gained international recognition, even as debates about its political status continued. Curacao’s soccer identity, meanwhile, exists entirely without sovereignty. One represents a nation that fought for independence, another continues to navigate issues of recognition, while a third remains comfortably within the larger kingdom.

Perhaps this is the peculiar power of football. It does not merely reflect the world as it is; sometimes it reveals the world as people imagine it.

Countries like Curacao on paper may belong to a kingdom. They belong to themselves on the field.

– The end

Issued by:

Ritaban Misra

Published on:

20 Jun 2026 10:32 IST