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. Group photo of the seven Aruban footballers in the Olympic team. 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. Pages 5 to 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 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
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 2026–27 CONCACAF Nations League C matches between 23 September and 6 October 2026, respectively.
Caps and goals correct as of 26 September 2026, after the match against Antigua and Barbuda.
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
RankPlayerCapsGoalsCareer1Nickenson Paul3502014–present2Eric Abdul2802011–20233Walter Bennett2522018–present4Theric Ruiz2412004–20165Erik Santos de Gouveia2232011–2021Matthew Lentink2202014–presentTerence Groothusen2242019–present8Francois Croes2102008–20219Ronald Gómez2052002–202110Leroy Oehlers1902013–2019
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerGoalsCapsRatioCareer1Rovien Ostiana8172023–present2Glenroy Lake561995–2002Ronald Gómez5202002–20214Wander Gross452000–2001Joshua John482018–2023Dwayn Alex Raven482012–2015Rensy Barradas4112011–2015Terence Groothusen4222019–present8Lesley Felomina342000–2001Jaybrien Romano392023–presentMaurice Escalona3102004–2014Annuar Kock3142011–2019Raymond Baten3162011–2019Erik Santos de Gouveia3222011–2021
Competitive record FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundSquad1930 to 1986Part of Part of 1990 and 1994Did not participateDid not participate 1998Did not qualify200236 20024112711 20062002210 2010200204 2014210166 2018420255 20224103319 20264022310 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034Total—0/8—2453162971
CONCACAF Gold Cup CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundSquad1963 to 1985Part of Part of 1989 and 1991Did not participateDid not participate 1993WithdrewWithdrew 1996Did not qualify200257 1998210127 2000311144 20023003414 2003200208 2005WithdrewWithdrew 2007Did not participateDid not participate 2009Did not qualify201113 2011Did not participateDid not participate 2013Did not qualify301257 2015320182 2017200214 2019411256 20216006518 2023411255 20256006517Total—0/13—40652943102
CONCACAF Nations League CONCACAF Nations League recordLeague phaseFinal phaseSeasonGroupFinalsRound2019−20BC16th6006518 2021Ineligible2022–23CB6th411255 20232023–24CB2nd4400144 20242024–25BC16th6006517 20252026–27CTo be determined2027Total2051142944—Total— CONCACAF Nations League historyFirst 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 Result2nd – League C (2023–24)Worst ResultRelegation League C (2019–20, 2024–25)
Caribbean Cup CFU Championship / Caribbean Cup record Qualification recordYearRoundPldWDLGFGA1978 to 1985Part of Part of 1988Did not participateDid not participate 1989Did not qualify4013119 1990201134 1991Did not participateDid not participate 1992Did not qualify30030101993 and 1994Did not participateDid not participate 1995Did not qualify200257 1996Did not participateDid not participate 1997Did not qualify210127 1998311144 1999WithdrewWithdrew 2001Did not qualify3003414 2005WithdrewWithdrew 2007Did not participateDid not participate 2008Did not qualify201113 2010Did not participateDid not participate 2012Did not qualify301257 2014320182 2017200214Total—0/11—2945203483
CCCF Championship CCCF Championship recordYearRoundPos.PldWDLGFGASquad 1955Round-robin5th621399SquadTotalFifth place1/1621399—
ABCS Tournament ABCS Tournament recordYearRoundPos.PldWDLGFGA 2010Third place3rd201136 2011Runners-up2nd202022 2012Champions1st220042 2013Fourth place4th200214 2015Runners-up2nd201101 2021Third place3rd201139 2022Third place3rd211032Total1 Title7/7143651626
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 4 October 2026
These all-time records are exclusively class 'A' internationals matches.
Against Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GDConfederation 2 2 0 0 5 2 +3CONCACAF 8 2 1 5 6 11 −5CONCACAF 8 2 1 5 11 17 −6CONCACAF 2 1 0 1 3 6 –3CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 7 0 +7CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1AFC 1 0 0 1 0 7 –7CONCACAF 3 3 0 0 10 3 +7CONCACAF 2 0 1 1 3 4 −1CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3CONCACAF 29 1 9 17 22 57 −35CONCACAF 1 0 0 1 2 3 −1CONCACAF 4 0 1 3 5 10 −5CONCACAF 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2CONCACAF 3 1 0 2 1 4 −3CONCACAF 2 0 0 2 3 7 −4CONCACAF 1 0 1 0 0 0 0CONCACAF 2 1 1 0 4 2 +2AFC 1 0 1 0 0 0 0CONCACAF 4 0 0 4 2 12 −10CONCACAF 4 0 1 3 5 14 –9CONCACAF 1 0 1 0 1 1 0CONCACAF 3 0 0 3 0 14 −14CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3UEFA 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3AFC 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2CONCACAF 8 1 1 6 9 20 −11CONCACAF 1 0 1 0 0 0 0CONCACAF 4 1 1 2 7 10 –3CONCACAF 3 0 0 3 2 7 −5CONCACAF 4 1 1 2 10 11 −1CONCACAF 2 1 1 0 3 0 +3CONCACAF 2 1 0 1 2 3 −1CONCACAF 2 0 0 2 0 3 −3CONCACAF 13 1 2 10 6 46 −40CONCACAF 1 0 0 1 0 11 −11CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1CONCACAF 2 2 0 0 7 2 +5CONCACAF 2 0 0 2 1 6 −5CONMEBOL Total 118232575145280−134FIFA
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