Advocaat Sacrifices World Cup and Historic Record for His Family

The veteran Dutch coach Dick Advocaat made a poignant humanitarian decision to leave his position as the coach of the Curaçao national team a few months before the World Cup, choosing instead to dedicate his time to his family due to a serious illness affecting his daughter. In doing so, he sacrificed the opportunity to lead a historic team in its first World Cup appearance and the chance to break a world record.

Advocaat had led Curaçao to an unprecedented achievement by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in its history, putting him on the verge of entering the record books as the oldest coach to lead a national team in the tournament at the age of 78. However, he confirmed in an official statement that “family comes above football,” describing the decision as natural despite his great sadness at parting with the team with which he made history.

This decision is seen as an exceptional sacrifice, as the Dutch coach gave up participating in the world’s biggest football tournament and the chance to set a new record in World Cup history, contenting himself with the achievement of qualification, which he described as one of the highlights of his long coaching career.

The Dutch coach Fred Rutten is set to lead the Curaçao national team in the upcoming finals instead of Advocaat, at a time when the sports community praised the veteran coach’s decision to prioritize family over sporting glory, in one of the most impactful human stories in modern football.