The Curaçao national baseball team represents the nation of

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

in international competition. It is distinct from the

Netherlands national baseball team The Netherlands national baseball team is the national baseball team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, representing the country in international men's baseball. They are the best-ranked team in the WBSC Europe, Europe, and WBSC World Rankings, ...

, though Curaçaoan players are eligible to represent the Netherlands in competitions like the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC), also referred to as the Classic, is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the sport's global governing body, and organized in World Baseball Clas ...

. Curaçao has participated independently in minor tournaments such as the Caribbean Baseball Cup and

Haarlem Baseball Week The Haarlem Baseball Week (, before 2016 known as ) is an international invitation baseball tournament at the in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was first held in and has been held every other year in even-numbered years since . In December 2016, a ...

(where it competed against the Netherlands in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) Curaçao was previously represented as part of the

Netherlands Antilles The Netherlands Antilles (, ; ), also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba (island), Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, ...

, a constituent country of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

, in senior-level men's international competition, until it was dissolved in 2011. In 2024, the baseball federations of Curaçao and Aruba announced a partnership to field their own national team, in what some commentators viewed as a split with the Netherlands.

Netherlands Antilles national baseball team

The Netherlands Antilles team was controlled by the Netherlands Antillean Baseball Federation. Like the Curaçao national team, it was distinct from the

, though for certain tournaments (namely the

), Dutch Antillean players were eligible to represent the Netherlands. In other tournaments, such as the

1988 Baseball World Cup The 1988 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 30th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, both the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles competed. The Dutch Antillean national team was largely composed of players from

and

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

, until the latter split off in 1986 to form its own constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Aruba national baseball team would compete against the Netherlands Antilles at the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games, officially known as the XI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Havana 1991 (), were held in Havana, Cuba from 2 to 18 August 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organi ...

. The Netherlands Antilles were represented in twelve

Baseball World Cup The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its ...

s, making their first appearance at the

1952 Amateur World Series The 1952 Amateur World Series was the 13th Amateur World Series. It was held in Havana from September 6 through September 26. Starting this year and continuing until 2007, Cuba would win every Amateur World Series/Baseball World Cup it entered - ...

. The team's highest finish was 7th place, at the 1973 Amateur World Series in Cuba. Bjarkman 2005, pp.416–39 The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October 2010. Since then, players from the former Dutch Antilles have continued to play on the Netherlands national team for the World Baseball Classic. For minor international competitions, Curaçao has fielded its own national team, as have

Bonaire Bonaire is a Caribbean island in the Leeward Antilles, and is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially Public body (Netherlands), "public body") of the Netherlands. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west (Windward an ...

and

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean region of North America. With a population of 58,477 as of June 2023 on an area of , it encompasses ...

Competitive record

Netherlands Antilles

Baseball World Cup

Curaçao

Caribbean Baseball Cup

Haarlem Baseball Week

References

Bibliography

* National baseball teams in North America National sports teams of the Netherlands Antilles Baseball in the Caribbean National sports teams established in 1938 {{Baseball-team-stub