Aruba national football team explained

Aruba
Association:Arubaanse Voetbal Bond
Sub-Confederation:CFU (Caribbean)
Coach:Marvic Bermúdez
Most Caps:Eric Abdul (32)
Top Scorer:Ronald Gómez
Terence Groothusen (6)
Captain:Nathan Lo-A-Njoe
Home Stadium:Trinidad Stadium
Fifa Trigramme:ARU
Fifa Max:112
Fifa Max Date:November 2015
Fifa Min:205
Fifa Min Date:April 2021
Elo Max:50
Elo Max Date:1924
Elo Min:203
Elo Min Date:April 2020
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First Game: Aruba 0–4
(Aruba; 6 April 1924)[1]
As FIFA member
7–0
(Netherlands Antilles; 31 March 1989)[2]
Largest Win: Aruba 8–1 Suriname
(Surinam; 6 June 1946)
7–0
(Oranjestad, Aruba; 1 June 2014)
Largest Loss: 11–0
(Arima, Trinidad and Tobago; 23 April 1989)

The Aruba national football team (Dutch: Arubaans voetbalelftal; Papiamento: Seleccion Arubano di futbol) is the national team of Aruba. It was founded in 1932 and is affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), CONCACAF and FIFA (since 1988) and is controlled by the Arubaanse Voetbal Bond.

The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

History

Between 1924 and 1933, Aruba only played against Curaçao, although these matches are not considered official.[3] In the 1950s these matches were used to select the best players for the Netherlands Antilles team. Aruban players like Jani Brokke played for the Netherlands Antilles at the 1952 Olympic Games.[4] Under the flag of the Curaçao Football Association (C.V.B.), they won gold with the Netherlands Antilles team at the 1950 Central American and Caribbean Games and participated in the 1953 CCCF Championship.[5]

In the 1950s the A.V.B. organised friendly matches and mini tournaments on the island. Examples are the 1952 match between Aruba and football club Botafogo (3-1)[6] and the 1953 series between Aruba, Surinam, British Guiana and professional club La Salle F.C. from Venezuela.[7] Aruba participated in its first tournament at the 1955 CCCF Championship, where they finished in 5th place. In 1958, A.V.B. and C.V.B. merged into the Netherlands Antillean Football Union. Aruba took part in the Netherlands Antilles national football team until their secession in 1986.

Following its split from the Netherlands Antilles, the Aruba Football Federation was affiliated in 1988 with CONCACAF and FIFA. Aruba entered qualifying for the 1989 Caribbean Cup, and in its first group match it suffered the worst defeat in its history, at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago, which crushed them 11–0. They played their first World Cup qualifying match against the Dominican Republic as part of the 1998 World Cup qualifying. Aruba has participated in all the qualifying tournaments for the World Cup since, without being able to get past the first qualifying round.

Aruba has also yet to qualify for the Caribbean Cup. However, they showed some progress in the preliminary round of the 2014 Caribbean Cup by getting two wins against Turks and Caicos (1–0) and British Virgin Islands (7–0), the latter being the biggest victory in its history. These results allowed them to reach 120th place in the FIFA World Ranking for the month of June 2014, their best ranking to date. Following these victories, Aruba lost 2–0 against French Guiana and were eliminated.

Aruba began their 2018 World Cup qualification in the second round against Barbados, losing 2–0 at home and 1–0 away, however FIFA ruled that Barbados had fielded an ineligible player, giving Aruba a 3–0 second leg victory and advancing them to the third round. Despite that, in the next round they were defeated again, this time by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines who won 3–2 on aggregate. Aruba failed to progress in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, finishing 4th in the first round.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2025

Coaching history

Players

See main article: List of Aruba international footballers.

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF) matches against Curacao and Saint Lucia on 9 and 11 June 2024, respectively.[8]

Caps and goals correct as of 11 June 2024, after the match against Saint Lucia.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been recently called up by the national squad.

Player records

[9]

Players in bold are still active with Aruba.

Most appearances

width=30pxRankPlayerwidth=50pxCapswidth=50pxGoalsCareer
1Eric Abdul3202011–present
2Theric Ruiz2812004–2016
3Nickenson Paul2802014–present
4Erik Santos de Gouveia2732011–2021
5Leroy Oehlers2402013–2019
6Francois Croes2302008–2021
7Ronald Gómez2262002–2021
8Raymond Baten2132011–2019
9Annuar Kock1732011–2019
10Gregor Breinburg1622015–present

Top goalscorers

width=30pxRankPlayerwidth=50pxGoalswidth=50pxCapswidth=50pxRatioCareer
1Terence Groothusen6182019–present
Ronald Gómez6222002–2021
3Glenroy Lake561995-2002
Rovien Ostiana572023-present
5Wander Gross452000–2001
Joshua John492018–present
Dwaynalex Raven4102012–2015
Rensy Barradas4112011–2015
Maurice Escalona4122004–2014
10Lesley Felomina342000–2001
Benjamin Maria3102022–present
Jean-Luc Bergen3102011–2015
Annuar Kock3172011–2019
Raymond Baten3212011–2019
Erik Santos de Gouveia3272011–2021

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World CupQualification
YearResultPosition
1930 to 1986Part of Part of
1990 and 1994Did not enterDid not enter
1998Did not qualify200236
20024112711
20062002210
2010200204
2014210166
2018420255
20224103319
2026To be determined201124
2030To be determined
2034
Total2252152865

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup recordwidth=1% rowspan=30Qualification record
YearResultPositionSquad
1963Part of Part of
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989Did not enterDid not enter
1991
1993WithdrewWithdrew
1996Did not qualify200257
1998210127
2000311144
20023003414
2003200208
2005WithdrewWithdrew
2007Did not enterDid not enter
2009Did not qualify201113
2011Did not enterDid not enter
2013Did not qualify301257
2015320182
2017200214
2019411256
20216006518
2023411255
Total0/183465233885

CONCACAF Nations League

CONCACAF Nations League record
LeagueFinals
SeasonDivisionGroupFinalsResults
2019−20BC6006518 2021Ineligible
2022–23CB411255 2023
2023–24CB4400144 2024
2024–25BCTo be determined 2025
Total145182427Total0 Titles

CFU Caribbean Cup

CFU Championship & Caribbean Cup record Qualification record
YearResultPositionPldWDLGFGA
1988Did not enterDid not enter
1989Did not qualify4004427
1990201134
1991Did not enterDid not enter
1992Did not qualify3003010
1993Did not enterDid not enter
1994
1995Did not qualify200257
1996Did not enterDid not enter
1997Did not qualify210127
1998311144
1999WithdrewWithdrew
2001Did not qualify3003414
2005WithdrewWithdrew
2007Did not enterDid not enter
2008Did not qualify201113
2010Did not enterDid not enter
2012Did not qualify301257
2014320182
2017200214
Total2944213789

ABCS Tournament

ABCS Tournament record
YearResultPldWD*LGFGA
2010Third place201136
2011Runners-up202022
2012Champions220042
2013Fourth place200214
2015Runners-up201101
2021Third place201139
2022Third place211032
Total1 Title143651626

Head-to-head record

Note: teams that are in italics indicates that the team is a historical team of a polity not existing anymore, or a team which is not a FIFA member.[10]

As of 11 June 2024[11]

These all-time records are exclusively class 'A' internationals matches.[12]

AgainstPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAGD
5 0 0 5 4 11 −7
6 1 0 5 7 16 −9
1 1 0 1 3 6 –3
1 1 0 0 7 0 +7
1 0 0 1 0 7 –7
3 3 0 0 10 3 +7
2 0 1 1 3 4 −1
1 1 0 0 4 1 +3
4 1 1 2 3 6 −3
22 0 8 14 19 47 −28
1 0 0 1 2 3 −1
4 0 1 3 5 10−5
1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
3 1 0 2 1 4 −3
2 0 0 2 3 7 −4
1 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 1 1 0 4 2 +2
1 0 1 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 4 2 12 −10
1 0 1 0 1 1 0
1 0 1 0 1 1 0
3 0 0 3 0 14 −14
1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
8 1 1 6 9 20 −11
1 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 1 1 0 6 4 +2
3 0 0 3 2 7 −5
4 1 1 2 10 11 −1
2 1 1 0 3 0 +3
2 1 0 1 2 3 −1
13 1 2 10 6 46 −40
1 0 0 1 0 11 −11
1 1 0 0 1 0 +1
2 2 0 0 7 2 +5
2 0 0 2 1 6 −5
Total 102172367123249−126

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Aruba - List of International Matches. RSSSF. Rec.Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. 17 November 2010. 11 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220811173513/https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/aruba-intres.html. live.
  2. Web site: Aruba national team. international-football.net. 25 March 2022. 29 May 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220529112909/https://www.international-football.net/search-matches?team=Aruba&page=2. live.
  3. Web site: Courtney . Barrie . Aruba - List of International Matches . RSSSF . 2 February 2023 . 11 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220811173513/https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/aruba-intres.html . live .
  4. Web site: Olympic Players, Helsinki Bound . Aruba Esso News on Coleccion Aruba, Biblioteca Nacional Aruba . 1952-06-06 . Group photo of the seven Aruban footballers in the Olympic team.
  5. Web site: Adriaan Brokke . Olympedia . 2023-06-12.
  6. Web site: Oncena Arubano a derrota Botafago cu un score di 3-1 . Arubaanse Courant on Internet Archive . 1952-08-11 . Papiamento .
  7. Web site: Football: Aruba Wins Interland Series . The Local on Internet Archive . 1953-02-14 . Pages 5 to 7.
  8. Web site: Final Squad . Facebook . Arubaanse Voetbal Bond - AVB.
  9. Web site: Aruba . National Football Teams . 7 June 2022 . 3 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230403182905/https://www.national-football-teams.com/country/11/2023/Aruba.html . live .
  10. Web site: World Football Elo Ratings. www.eloratings.net. en. 2018-11-09. 20 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181120070734/http://www.eloratings.net/Aruba. live.
  11. Web site: World Football Elo Ratings: Aruba. Elo Ratings. 23 March 2019. 24 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190324180227/http://www.eloratings.net/Aruba. live.
  12. Web site: Aruba national football team statistics and records: All-time record. 11v11.com. 26 May 2020. 31 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210831090629/https://www.11v11.com/teams/aruba/tab/stats/. live.