Curacao boss Dick Advocaat resigns 112 days before historic World Cup campaign

Dylan ter Laak

• 23 Feb 2026 12:00 CST
• 4 min read

News

Dick Advocaat has stepped down as Curacao's national team head coach with immediate effect.

The 78-year-old has resigned just 112 days before the tiny island nation embarks on a historic World Cup campaign due to personal reasons. Fred Rutten, who hasn't had a coaching job in almost three years, will replace Advocaat.

The former Sunderland manager's decision stems from his daughter's health problems, according to a report by Voetbal International. "I've always said that family comes before football. So this is an obvious decision," Advocaat is quoted as saying.

"But that doesn't change the fact that I will miss Curacao, the people there, and my colleagues very much. I consider qualifying the smallest FIFA country in the world for the World Cup one of the highlights of my career. I'm proud of my players and staff, and the board members who believed in us."

As Curacao's national coach, Advocaat pulled off a major upset. The experienced coach led the island to FIFA's upcoming showpiece event, making Curacao the smallest country ever to participate in a World Cup.

This summer, the island nation, whose team consists of many Dutch dual-nationals, will face Germany, Ecuador, and the Ivory Coast in the group stage. Their World Cup campaign kicks off on 14 June.

Advocaat was previously absent

The match in which Curacao qualified for the World Cup also took place without Advocaat on the sidelines. The coach had travelled to the Netherlands for family reasons. Advocaat was therefore forced to watch the match from home on television.

"I was exhausted after the match, much more so than when I'm on the pitch. You can set things up the way you want, but you lose your energy. This was such an important match," he said at the time.

Advocaat had previously talked about the end of his coaching career. At the time, the coach hadn't yet qualified for the World Cup with Curacao.

Missing out on the final tournament would very likely have been the end of the road, he confided to Voetbal International at the time. Given the circumstances, it seems quite possible that Advocaat's career will now be over after all.

The career of Dick Advocaat

The coach boasts an impressive resume and has managed numerous clubs across his 46-year coaching career. In total, Advocaat has had 28 managerial appointments.

This list also includes various national team assignments. Besides Curacao, he previously coached the Netherlands several times and also managed the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Russia, Serbia and Iraq.

Advocaat also coached several Eredivisie clubs in his native Netherlands. He managed PSV several times and was also at the helm at AZ, Feyenoord, Sparta Rotterdam and FC Utrecht.

From November 2022 to June 2023, Advocaat was the manager of ADO Den Haag, which has proved to be his last coaching job at the club level.

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•App Store