Aruba national football team

The Aruba national football team (; ) represents Aruba (constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean) in men's international football, which is governed by the Arubaanse Voetbal Bond () founded in 1932. It has been a member of FIFA and CONCACAF since 1988. Regionally, it is a member of CFU in the Caribbean Zone.

Aruba has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, but has participated twice in League B and twice in League C of the CONCACAF Nations League.

Aruba's debut in international competitions was in the 1955 CCCF Championship. Their first appearance in World Cup qualifiers was in the 1998 CONCACAF qualification. The team achieved its first victory in 1938, defeating Suriname 5–0. After its separation of the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, the modern Aruba achieved its first victory in 1997, defeating Netherlands Antilles 2–1.

History

Between 1924 and 1933, Aruba only played against Curaçao, although these matches are not considered official. 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. 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.

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) and the 1953 series between Aruba, Surinam, British Guiana and professional club La Salle F.C. from Venezuela. 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 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 FIFA 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 FIFA 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 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, finishing 4th in the first round. In March 2025, Aruba then travel all the way to Southeast Asia to face against Cambodia in a friendly match which is also their first Asian opponents since 2014 against Guam.

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

2026

Coaching history

thumb|100px|[[Rini Coolen became the manager of the national football team of Aruba in 2015]]

René Notten (1995)
Ángel Botta (1996)
Marco Rasmijn (2000)
Marcelo Muñoz (2004)
Azing Griever (2004–2006)
Marcelo Muñoz (2008–2010)
Epi Albertus (2010–2012)
Giovanni Franken (2013–2015)
Rini Coolen (2015)
Martin Koopman (2015–2020)
Marvic Bermúdez (2020)
Stanley Menzo (2021–2022)
Marvic Bermúdez (2022–)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA Series (men's matches) matches against Macau and a second opponent (to be determined between Liechtenstein or Tanzania) on 26 and 29 March 2026, respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of 30 March 2026, after the match against Liechtenstein.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up by the national squad within the last twelve months..

Player records

:Players in bold are still active with Aruba.

Most appearances

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

!width=30px|Rank

! style="width:150px;"|Player

!width=50px|Caps

!width=50px|Goals

! style="width:100px;"|Career

|style="text-align: left;"|Nickenson Paul

|35

|2014–present

|style="text-align: left;"|Eric Abdul

|28

|2011–2023

|style="text-align: left;"|Walter Bennett

|25

|2018–present

|style="text-align: left;"|Theric Ruiz

|24

|2004–2016

|rowspan=3|5

|style="text-align: left;"|Erik Santos de Gouveia

|22

|2011–2021

|style="text-align: left;"|Matthew Lentink

|22

|2014–present

|style="text-align: left;"|Terence Groothusen

|22

|2019–present

|style="text-align: left;"|Francois Croes

|21

|2008–2021

|style="text-align: left;"|Ronald Gómez

|20

|2002–2021

|10

|style="text-align: left;"|Leroy Oehlers

|19

|2013–2019

Top goalscorers

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

!width=30px|Rank

! style="width:150px;"|Player

!width=50px|Goals

!width=50px|Caps

!width=50px|Ratio

! style="width:100px;"|Career

|style="text-align: left;"|Rovien Ostiana

|17

|2023–present

|rowspan=2|2

|style="text-align: left;"|Glenroy Lake

|1995–2002

|style="text-align: left;"|Ronald Gómez

|20

|2002–2021

|rowspan=5|4

|style="text-align: left;"|Wander Gross

|2000–2001

|style="text-align: left;"|Joshua John

|2018–2023

|style="text-align: left;"|Dwayn Alex Raven

|2012–2015

|style="text-align: left;"|Rensy Barradas

|11

|2011–2015

|style="text-align: left;"|Terence Groothusen

|22

|2019–present

|rowspan=6|8

|style="text-align: left;"|Lesley Felomina

|2000–2001

|style="text-align: left;"|Jaybrien Romano

|2023–present

|style="text-align: left;"|Maurice Escalona

|10

|2004–2014

|style="text-align: left;"|Annuar Kock

|14

|2011–2019

|style="text-align: left;"|Raymond Baten

|16

|2011–2019

|style="text-align: left;"|Erik Santos de Gouveia

|22

|2011–2021

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=10|FIFA World Cup record

!rowspan=15|

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Squad

|1930 to 1986||colspan=9|Part of

|colspan=6|Part of

|1990 and 1994||colspan=9|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1998||colspan=9 rowspan=8|Did not qualify

|2||0||0||2||3||6

| 2002

|4||1||1||2||7||11

| 2006

|2||0||0||2||2||10

| 2010

|2||0||0||2||0||4

| 2014

|2||1||0||1||6||6

| 2018

|4||2||0||2||5||5

| 2022

|4||1||0||3||3||19

| 2026

|4||0||2||2||3||10

| 2030||colspan=9 rowspan=2|To be determined

|colspan=6 rowspan=2|To be determined

| 2034

!Total!!—!!0/8!!colspan=7|—

!24!!5!!3!!16!!29!!71

CONCACAF Gold Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=10|CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup record

!rowspan=22|

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Squad

|1963 to 1985||colspan=9|Part of

|colspan=6|Part of

|1989 and 1991||colspan=9|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1993||colspan=9|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 1996||colspan=9 rowspan=5|Did not qualify

| 1998

| 2000

| 2002

|14

| 2003

| 2005||colspan=9|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 2007||colspan=9|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 2009||colspan=9|Did not qualify

| 2011||colspan=9|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 2013||colspan=9 rowspan=7|Did not qualify

| 2015

| 2017

| 2019

| 2021

|18

| 2023

| 2025

|17

!Total!!—!!0/13!!colspan=7|—

!40!!6!!5!!29!!43!!102

CONCACAF Nations League

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=22|CONCACAF Nations League record

!colspan=11|League phase

!rowspan=8|

!colspan=10|Final phase

!Season

!Group

!Finals

!Round

|2019−20

|16th||6||0||0||6||5||18||

| 2021||colspan=9 rowspan=5|Ineligible

|2022–23

|6th||4||1||1||2||5||5||

| 2023

|2023–24

|2nd||4||4||0||0||14||4||

| 2024

|2024–25

|16th||6||0||0||6||5||17||

| 2025

|2026–27

|C||colspan=9|To be determined

|2027

!colspan=4|Total!!20!!5!!1!!14!!29!!44!!—

!Total!!colspan=9|—

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;"

!colspan=2|CONCACAF Nations League history

!First match

| 1–0 (6 September 2019; Willemstad, Curaçao)

!Biggest Win

| 3–0 (6 June 2022; Willemstad, Curaçao) 4–1 (16 November 2023; Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands)

!Biggest Defeat

| 6–0 (15 October 2019; Willemstad, Curaçao)

!Best Result

|2nd – League C (2023–24)

!Worst Result

|Relegation League C (2019–20, 2024–25)

Caribbean Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=9|CFU Championship / Caribbean Cup record

|rowspan=23|

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Pld

!GF

!GA

|1978 to 1985||colspan=8|Part of

|colspan=6|Part of

|1988||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1989||colspan=9 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

||4||0||1||3||1||19

| 1990

||2||0||1||1||3||4

| 1991||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1992||colspan=8|Did not qualify

||3||0||0||3||0||10

|1993 and 1994||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1995||colspan=8|Did not qualify

||2||0||0||2||5||7

| 1996||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 1997||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

||2||1||0||1||2||7

| 1998

||3||1||1||1||4||4

| 1999||colspan=8|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 2001||colspan=8|Did not qualify

||3||0||0||3||4||14

| 2005||colspan=9|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 2007||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 2008||colspan=8|Did not qualify

||2||0||1||1||1||3

| 2010||colspan=8|Did not participate

|colspan=6|Did not participate

| 2012||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not qualify

||3||0||1||2||5||7

| 2014

||3||2||0||1||8||2

| 2017

||2||0||0||2||1||4

!Total!!—!!0/11!!colspan=7|—

!29!!4!!5!!20!!34!!83

CCCF Championship

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=10|CCCF Championship record

!Year

!Round

!Pos.

!Pld

!GF

!GA

!Squad

| 1955

|Round-robin||5th||6||2||1||3||9||9||Squad

!Total!!Fifth place!!1/1!!6!!2!!1!!3!!9!!9!!—

ABCS Tournament

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan=9|ABCS Tournament record

!Year

!Round

!Pos.

!Pld

!GF

!GA

|- bgcolor=#c96

| 2010

|Third place||3rd||2||0||1||1||3||6

|- bgcolor=silver

| 2011

|Runners-up||2nd||2||0||2||0||2||2

|- bgcolor=gold

|style="border: 3px solid red"| 2012

|Champions||1st||2||2||0||0||4||2

|- bgcolor=#9acdff

| 2013

|Fourth place||4th||2||0||0||2||1||4

|- bgcolor=silver

| 2015||Runners-up||2nd||2||0||1||1||0||1

|- bgcolor=#c96

| 2021||Third place||3rd||2||0||1||1||3||9

|- bgcolor=#c96

| 2022||Third place||3rd||2||1||1||0||3||2

!Total!!1 Title!!7/7!!14!!3!!6!!5!!16!!26

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.

As of 29 March 2026

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

{| class="wikitable sortable" text-align="center"

! Against

! Played

! Won

! Drawn

! Lost

! GF

! GA

! GD

!Confederation

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 6 || 0 || 1 || 5 || 4 || 11 || −7

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 8 || 2 || 1 || 5 || 11 || 17 || −6

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 6 || –3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 7 || 0 || +7

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 1 || +1

|AFC

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 7 || –7

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 10 || 3 || +7

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 3 || 4 || −1

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 1 || +3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 28 || 1 || 9 || 16 || 22 || 53 || −31

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 3 || −1

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 4 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 5 || 10|| −5

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 2 || −2

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" |'|| 3 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 1 || 4 || −3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 3 || 7 || −4

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" |'|| 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 4 || 2 || +2

|AFC

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 4 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 2 || 12 || −10

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 4 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 5 || 14 || –9

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 3 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 14 || −14

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 1 || +3

|UEFA

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 1 || +3

|AFC

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 2 || −2

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" |'|| 8 || 1 || 1 || 6 || 9 || 20 || −11

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 4 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 7 || 10 || –3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 3 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 2 || 7 || −5

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 4 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 10 || 11 || −1

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" |'|| 2 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 0 || +3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#ffd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 3 || −1

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" |'|| 2 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 3 || −3

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 13 || 1 || 2 || 10 || 6 || 46 || −40

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 11 || −11

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || +1

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#dfd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 7 || 2 || +5

|CONCACAF

|- bgcolor=#fdd

| align="left" ||| 2 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 1 || 6 || −5

|CONMEBOL

|- class="sortbottom"

! Total !!114!!20!!25!!74!!139!!274!!−134

!FIFA

Honours

Friendly

ABCS Tournament
Champions (1): 2012
FIFA Series
Champions (1): 2026 Rwanda B

References

External links

Country profile – FIFA
Country roster – National Football Teams
Team 2008
Netherlands Antilles vs Aruba, Digicel Caribbean Championships 2008, YouTube
Grenada vs Aruba, Digicel Caribbean Championships 2008, YouTube