Anguilla, the dream of the poorest national team in the world

The island is there, football is not yet. They are building it one dream at a time, like in a fairy tale. It all started last March when the Anguilla national team qualified for the second round of Concacaf for the 2026 World Cup thirty-four years after its foundation. Penalties were needed – blessed, merciless penalties – to beat the opposite islands, those of Turks and Caicos, in a derby surrounded by the ocean. Gareth Thomas, English, who has been involved in the Anguillian football movement for four years, says that it was something he had never seen before: “The celebrations were incredible and that success also aroused interest from many people around the world”. Grill parties took place in the streets, and of course there was singing and dancing until the morning. The road to cup, however, is longer than a highway. As they say, step by step. The second round started badly: 4 goals conceded by Suriname, 8 by Puerto Rico, none scored. We will talk about it again in June 2025, when Anguilla will face St Vincent, Jamaica and El Salvador. In all honesty, says Thomas, “It is extremely unlikely that Anguilla will ever qualify for the final World Cup tournament due to the size of the island. However, going to the second round of qualifying was like winning the World Cup.” .