{"id":8502,"date":"2026-02-23T19:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/curacao-boss-advocaat-steps-down-and-misses-making-world-cup-history\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T19:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T14:10:03","slug":"curacao-boss-advocaat-steps-down-and-misses-making-world-cup-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/curacao-boss-advocaat-steps-down-and-misses-making-world-cup-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Curacao boss Advocaat steps down and misses making World Cup history"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Published35 minutes ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Curacao will have a new head coach in charge for their World Cup warm-up friendly against Scotland on 30 May after Dick Advocaat stood down for personal reasons.<\/p>\n<p>The former Rangers manager had led the Caribbean island&#x27;s team to the finals for the first time but will be replaced with fellow Dutchman Fred Rutten.<\/p>\n<p>At 78, Advocaat would have become the oldest coach in World Cup finals history.<\/p>\n<p>He had described leading the island with a population of around 150,000 to the World Cup as the &quot;craziest thing&quot; he had achieved in a managerial career spanning nearly four decades.<\/p>\n<p>But Dutch media reported on Monday that he has stood down because of his daughter&#x27;s health.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve always said family is above football,&quot; he said. &quot;So this is a self-evident decision. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/news\/articles\/cm2rv4lzr37o\">\n<p>Edinburgh pubs allowed to open late for all World Cup matches<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published1 hour ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\/articles\/c98ql5ml885o\">\n<p>Fifa wants injured players to stay off for one minute<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published1 hour ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\/articles\/cx289xwl03vo\">\n<p>Unlicensed betting firms face sponsorship ban<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published1 hour ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&quot;But, of course, that doesn&#x27;t change the fact that I&#x27;m going to miss Curacao, the people there and my colleagues very much.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Advocaat, who also managed the Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, PSV Eindhoven and Sunderland, spent two years as Curacao head coach.<\/p>\n<p>Unbeaten over six games, they reached their first finals by topping their CONCACAF qualifying group ahead of Jamaica, Trinidad &amp; Tobago and Bermuda.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Clarke&#x27;s Scots entertain Japan and Ivory Coast in March friendlies before Curacao visit Hampden for their final warm-up match before the summer finals in the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>By then, the islanders will be led by 63-year-old former Netherlands defender Rutten, who has managed PSV Eindhoven, Anderlecht and Feyenoord.<\/p>\n<p>He had most recently returned to PSV as assistant to Ruud van Nistelrooy and had a spell as caretaker after his fellow Dutchman&#x27;s departure in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Rutten&#x27;s side begin their World Cup campaign with a Group E match against Germany in Houston on 14 June and also face Ivory Coast and Ecuador.<\/p>\n<p>The Scots begin their campaign the previous day against Haiti, with Brazil and Morocco the other sides in Group C.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\">Football<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\/world-cup\">FIFA World Cup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\/teams\/scotland\">Scotland Men&#x27;s Football Team<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advocaat to miss Scotland friendly and World Cup history Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Dick Advocaat was poised to be the oldest coach at World Cup finalsPublished35 minutes agoCuracao will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}