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Aruba national football team facts for kids

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This page is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Aruba women's national football team.
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Aruba
Association Arubaanse Voetbal Bond
Confederation CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation CFU (Caribbean)
Head coach Marvic Bermúdez
Captain Fernando Lewis
Most caps Eric Abdul (32)
Top scorer Rovien Ostiana (7)
Home stadium Trinidad Stadium
FIFA code ARU
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 187 Steady (7 February 2019)
Highest 112 (November 2015)
Lowest 205 (April 2021)
Elo ranking
Current 198 Increase 1 (3 March 2019)
Highest 50 (1924)
Lowest 203 (April 2020)
First international
Aruba 0–4 Curaçao 
(Aruba; 6 April 1924)
As FIFA member
 Trinidad and Tobago 7–0 Aruba 
(Netherlands Antilles; 31 March 1989)
Biggest win
Aruba 8–1 Suriname Netherlands
(Surinam; 6 June 1946)
 Aruba 7–0 British Virgin Islands 
(Oranjestad, Aruba; 1 June 2014)
Biggest defeat
 Trinidad and Tobago 11–0 Aruba 
(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. 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 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.

      Win       Draw       Loss       Fixture

2023

2024

2025

Coaching history

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

Players

Main article: List of Aruba international footballers

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League B matches against Haiti on 11 and 14 October 2024, respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2024, after the match against Haiti.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Matthew Lentink (1993-08-18) 18 August 1993 (age 31) 19 0 Netherlands VV Goes
1GK Josthan Maduro (2006-08-30) 30 August 2006 (age 18) 1 0 Aruba SV Britannia
1GK Jahmani Eisden (2005-07-09) 9 July 2005 (age 19) 0 0 Netherlands FC Den Bosch U21
2DF Nickenson Paul (1997-08-24) 24 August 1997 (age 27) 32 0 Aruba SV Dakota
2DF Mark Jacobs (1999-10-28) 28 October 1999 (age 25) 15 0 Unattached
2DF Kymani Nedd (2004-06-10) 10 June 2004 (age 20) 11 0 Netherlands Excelsior
2DF Edward Clarissa (2000-03-26) 26 March 2000 (age 24) 10 0 Netherlands VV DUNO
2DF Ashton Charles (1995-03-22) 22 March 1995 (age 29) 4 1 Aruba SV Britannia
2DF Tyrese Gijsbertha (2003-12-22) 22 December 2003 (age 21) 4 0 Netherlands FC Twente
2DF Edhyon Hersilia 0 0 Aruba SV Britannia
3MF Walter Bennett (1997-03-18) 18 March 1997 (age 27) 21 1 Netherlands SC Feyenoord
3MF Stiven Melchor Rua (1990-05-12) 12 May 1990 (age 34) 17 0 Aruba SV Britannia
3MF Fernando Lewis (1993-01-31) 31 January 1993 (age 31) 13 0 Netherlands SV Zandvoort
3MF Rovien Ostiana (2002-02-14) 14 February 2002 (age 22) 11 7 Unattached
3MF Isaï Marselia (2001-06-17) 17 June 2001 (age 23) 7 1 England Sporting Khalsa
3MF Ethan Tromp (2002-01-17) 17 January 2002 (age 22) 4 0 Aruba SV Britannia
3MF Shivay Wadhwani (2005-07-03) 3 July 2005 (age 19) 3 0 Netherlands Ajax Amateurs
3MF Dimaggio Senchi (1995-05-03) 3 May 1995 (age 29) 2 0 Unattached
4FW Terence Groothusen (1996-09-16) 16 September 1996 (age 28) 20 6 Netherlands ADO '20
4FW Javier Jiménez (2000-05-27) 27 May 2000 (age 24) 12 1 Germany TSG Neustrelitz
4FW Jayden Kruydenhof (2006-12-18) 18 December 2006 (age 18) 6 1 Netherlands SC Cambuur
4FW Tyron Perret Gentil (2004-04-10) 10 April 2004 (age 20) 4 1 Netherlands Almere City
4FW Reangelo Boekhoudt (2006-04-07) 7 April 2006 (age 18) 1 0 Aruba River Plate

Recent call-ups

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

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Nathan Lo-A-Njoe (1989-03-01) 1 March 1989 (age 35) 5 0 Aruba Racing Club vs.  Puerto Rico, 9 September 2024
DF Sandro Staal (1994-02-12) 12 February 1994 (age 30) 5 0 Unattached vs.  Puerto Rico, 9 September 2024
DF Jeanpierre van der Linden (1998-01-07) 7 January 1998 (age 26) 1 0 Netherlands TAC '90 vs.  Puerto Rico, 9 September 2024
DF Diederick Luydens (1999-02-18) 18 February 1999 (age 25) 10 1 Netherlands SV DSO vs.  Saint Lucia, 11 June 2024
DF Darryl Bäly (1998-01-19) 19 January 1998 (age 26) 7 1 Netherlands FC Lisse vs.  Saint Lucia, 11 June 2024
MF Jonathan Richard (1991-06-21) 21 June 1991 (age 33) 8 0 Netherlands ODIN '59 vs.  Saint Lucia, 11 June 2024
FW Jeremy van Uunen (1993-10-28) 28 October 1993 (age 31) 4 0 Netherlands VV Zwaluwen vs.  Puerto Rico, 9 September 2024
FW Benjamin Maria (2001-09-19) 19 September 2001 (age 23) 10 3 Netherlands VV DUNO vs.  Saint Lucia, 11 June 2024
FW Conner van Kilsdonk (2006-09-24) 24 September 2006 (age 18) 0 0 Netherlands NEC vs.  Saint Lucia, 11 June 2024

Player records

Players in bold are still active with Aruba.

Most appearances

Rank Player Caps Goals Career
1 Eric Abdul 32 0 2011–2023
2 Nickenson Paul 30 0 2014–present
3 Theric Ruiz 28 1 2004–2016
4 Erik Santos de Gouveia 27 3 2011–2021
5 Leroy Oehlers 24 0 2013–2019
6 Francois Croes 23 0 2008–2021
7 Ronald Gómez 22 6 2002–2021
8 Raymond Baten 21 3 2011–2019
9 Walter Bennett 19 1 2018–present
10 Terence Groothusen 18 6 2019-Present

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Goals Caps Ratio Career
1 Rovien Ostiana 7 11 0.64 2023-present
2 Terence Groothusen 6 18 0.33 2019–present
Ronald Gómez 6 22 0.27 2002–2021
4 Glenroy Lake 5 6 0.83 1995-2002
5 Wander Gross 4 5 0.8 2000–2001
Joshua John 4 9 0.44 2018–present
Dwaynalex Raven 4 10 0.4 2012–2015
Rensy Barradas 4 11 0.36 2011–2015
Maurice Escalona 4 12 0.33 2004–2014
10 Lesley Felomina 3 4 0.75 2000–2001
Benjamin Maria 3 10 0.3 2022–present
Jean-Luc Bergen 3 10 0.3 2011–2015
Annuar Kock 3 17 0.18 2011–2019
Raymond Baten 3 21 0.14 2011–2019
Erik Santos de Gouveia 3 27 0.11 2011–2021

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup Qualification
Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D* L GF GA
1930 to 1986 Part of  Netherlands Antilles Part of  Netherlands Antilles
1990 and 1994 Did not enter Did not enter
France 1998 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 3 6
South Korea Japan 2002 4 1 1 2 7 11
Germany 2006 2 0 0 2 2 10
South Africa 2010 2 0 0 2 0 4
Brazil 2014 2 1 0 1 6 6
Russia 2018 4 2 0 2 5 5
Qatar 2022 4 1 0 3 3 19
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined 2 0 1 1 2 4
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030 To be determined
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total 0/9 22 5 2 15 28 65

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup record Qualification record
Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad Pld W D L GF GA
El Salvador 1963 Part of  Netherlands Antilles Part of  Netherlands Antilles
Guatemala 1965
Honduras 1967
Costa Rica 1969
Trinidad and Tobago 1971
Haiti 1973
Mexico 1977
Honduras 1981
1985
1989 Did not enter Did not enter
United States 1991
Mexico United States 1993 Withdrew Withdrew
United States 1996 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 5 7
United States 1998 2 1 0 1 2 7
United States 2000 3 1 1 1 4 4
United States 2002 3 0 0 3 4 14
Mexico United States 2003 2 0 0 2 0 8
United States 2005 Withdrew Withdrew
United States 2007 Did not enter Did not enter
United States 2009 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 1 3
United States 2011 Did not enter Did not enter
United States 2013 Did not qualify 3 0 1 2 5 7
Canada United States 2015 3 2 0 1 8 2
United States 2017 2 0 0 2 1 4
Costa Rica Jamaica United States 2019 4 1 1 2 5 6
United States 2021 6 0 0 6 5 18
Canada United States 2023 4 1 1 2 5 5
Total 0/18 34 6 5 23 38 85

CONCACAF Nations League

CONCACAF Nations League record
League Finals
Season Division Group Pld W D L GF GA P/R Finals Results Pld W D L GF GA Squad
2019−20 B C 6 0 0 6 5 18 Fall United States 2021 Ineligible
2022–23 C B 4 1 1 2 5 5 Same position United States 2023
2023–24 C B 4 4 0 0 14 4 Rise United States 2024
2024–25 B C 6 0 0 6 5 17 Fall United States 2025
2026–27 C To be determined United States 2027
Total — — 20 5 1 14 29 44 — Total 0 Titles — — — — — — —

CFU Caribbean Cup

CFU Championship & Caribbean Cup record Qualification record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Martinique 1988 Did not enter Did not enter
Barbados 1989 Did not qualify 4 0 0 4 4 27
Trinidad and Tobago 1990 2 0 1 1 3 4
Jamaica 1991 Did not enter Did not enter
Trinidad and Tobago 1992 Did not qualify 3 0 0 3 0 10
Jamaica 1993 Did not enter Did not enter
Trinidad and Tobago 1994
Cayman Islands Jamaica 1995 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 5 7
Trinidad and Tobago 1996 Did not enter Did not enter
Antigua and Barbuda Saint Kitts and Nevis 1997 Did not qualify 2 1 0 1 2 7
Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago 1998 3 1 1 1 4 4
Trinidad and Tobago 1999 Withdrew Withdrew
Trinidad and Tobago 2001 Did not qualify 3 0 0 3 4 14
Barbados 2005 Withdrew Withdrew
Trinidad and Tobago 2007 Did not enter Did not enter
Jamaica 2008 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 1 3
Martinique 2010 Did not enter Did not enter
Antigua and Barbuda 2012 Did not qualify 3 0 1 2 5 7
Jamaica 2014 3 2 0 1 8 2
Martinique 2017 2 0 0 2 1 4
Total — — – – – – – – 29 4 4 21 37 89

ABCS Tournament

ABCS Tournament record
Year Result Pld W D* L GF GA
Curaçao 2010 Third place 2 0 1 1 3 6
Suriname 2011 Runners-up 2 0 2 0 2 2
Aruba 2012 Champions 2 2 0 0 4 2
Curaçao 2013 Fourth place 2 0 0 2 1 4
Suriname 2015 Runners-up 2 0 1 1 0 1
Curaçao 2021 Third place 2 0 1 1 3 9
Curaçao 2022 Third place 2 1 1 0 3 2
Total 1 Title 14 3 6 5 16 26
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

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 15 November 2024

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

Against Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD
 Antigua and Barbuda 5 0 0 5 4 11 −7
 Barbados 6 1 0 5 7 16 −9
 Bermuda 1 1 0 1 3 6 –3
 British Virgin Islands 1 1 0 0 7 0 +7
 Canada 1 0 0 1 0 7 –7
 Cayman Islands 3 3 0 0 10 3 +7
 Costa Rica 2 0 1 1 3 4 −1
 Cuba 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3
 Curaçao 4 1 1 2 3 6 −3
 Curaçao 22 0 8 14 19 47 −28
 Dominica 1 0 0 1 2 3 −1
 Dominican Republic 4 0 1 3 5 10 −5
 El Salvador 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
 French Guiana 3 1 0 2 1 4 −3
 Grenada 2 0 0 2 3 7 −4
 Guadeloupe 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
 Guam 2 1 1 0 4 2 +2
 Guatemala 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
 Guyana 4 0 0 4 2 12 −10
 Haiti 3 0 1 2 5 9 –4
 Honduras 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
 Jamaica 3 0 0 3 0 14 −14
 Montserrat 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
 Netherlands Antilles 8 1 1 6 9 20 −11
 Panama 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
 Puerto Rico 4 1 1 2 7 10 –3
 Saint Kitts and Nevis 3 0 0 3 2 7 −5
 Saint Lucia 4 1 1 2 10 11 −1
 Saint Martin 2 1 1 0 3 0 +3
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2 1 0 1 2 3 −1
 Sint Maarten 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2
 Suriname 13 1 2 10 6 46 −40
 Trinidad and Tobago 1 0 0 1 0 11 −11
 Turks and Caicos Islands 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1
 U.S. Virgin Islands 2 2 0 0 7 2 +5
 Venezuela 2 0 0 2 1 6 −5
Total 107 17 23 72 128 265 −137

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Aruba para niños

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