Dick Advocaat started his coaching career while he was still a player, taking charge of Door Samenwerking Verkregen Pijnacker in 1981.
Now, aged 78, he will become the oldest coach in World Cup history.
Curaçao is the eighth country Advocaat has coached after the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Belgium, Russia, Serbia and Iraq.
He was coach of the Netherlands the last time the World Cup was held in the USA in 1994.
Advocaat is technically in his second spell as Curaçao coach.
He briefly resigned at the start of the year, having already led the tiny Caribbean nation to its first ever World Cup.
He left because his daughter was seriously ill and he wanted, quite rightly, to spend more time with her.
However, his successor Fred Rutten was not well received by the players and, reportedly, the nation’s chief sponsor, Corendon Dutch Airlines, were not impressed either.
With his daughter’s illness improving, Advocaat was convinced to return.
Amazingly, Advocaat is the third person to become the oldest World Cup coach in the space of days at this tournament.
First, South Africa boss Hugo Broos set the new record in the tournament’s opening game aged 74.
He broke the record of Euro-winning Greece manager Otto Rehhagel, who was 71 when he coached in 2010.
Hours later, Miroslav Koubek, the Czechia coach who is also 74 but days older than Broos, took over as the record holder.
But now Advocaat stands alone.
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