A Caribbean island of roughly 156,000 people is about to take its place on football's grandest stage. Curaçao, an autonomous constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the southern Caribbean Sea, has qualified for the FIFA World Cup — becoming the smallest nation, by both population and land area, ever to do so. The island of 443 square kilometres opens its campaign against Germany in Houston on 14 June, and its entry into the record books is already confirmed: the achievement has earned Curaçao a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The streets of Willemstad, the island's historic capital, erupted in blue this week as Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas officially launched the three-day Blue Wave Festival — named after the team's nickname — with a ceremonial lighting of the city's landmark Handelskade waterfront and the Pontjesbrug pontoon bridge. Thousands of supporters, dressed in blue shirts and waving flags, filled the two historic districts of Punda and Otrobanda, dancing to music between colonial-era buildings as tourists joined local fans in what organisers described as a celebration of sport, culture, and community. Opera singer Tania Kross, performing at the festival, captured the mood: