Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals for the first and so far only time in 2006. In doing so they became the least populous country ever to have qualified for the World Cup, taking a record previously held by Northern Ireland. They held it until Iceland qualified for the 2018 tournament, and it now belongs to Curaçao, who reached the 2026 finals with a population of around 156,000.

2006

Under the Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker, Trinidad and Tobago finished fourth in the CONCACAF group and so went into an inter-confederation play-off against Bahrain in November 2005. They drew the first leg 1–1 in Port of Spain and won the second 1–0 in Manama, a header from the Wrexham defender Dennis Lawrence sending the Soca Warriors to Germany.

Drawn in Group B with England, Sweden and Paraguay, they opened against Sweden in Dortmund on 10 June and held out for a 0–0 draw, playing almost the whole second half a man short after Avery John was sent off less than a minute after the restart. Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, called into the side when Kelvin Jack broke down in the warm-up, was outstanding, and the 34-year-old captain Dwight Yorke was named man of the match.

Against England in Nuremberg on 15 June they held on until late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard settled it 2–0, and five days later in Kaiserslautern they lost by the same score to Paraguay, an early Brent Sancho own goal followed by a Nelson Cuevas strike near the end. One point from three matches left them bottom of the group, and they were the only team at the 2006 World Cup not to score a goal.

Near Misses

Trinidad and Tobago came close to reaching the 1974 finals. At the 1973 CONCACAF Championship, which doubled as the qualifying tournament, they lost 2–1 to Haiti in a match in which the referee disallowed four Trinidad and Tobago goals. Both the referee, Jose Roberto Henriquez of El Salvador, and one of his linesmen were later banned from the game for life by FIFA. Haiti took the region's single place with 8 points; Trinidad and Tobago finished second on 6.

In 1989 the "Strike Squad" needed only a draw at home to the United States in the final qualifying match to reach Italia '90. More than 30,000 packed the Port of Spain stadium on 19 November, but Paul Caligiuri's first-half goal won it for the Americans and sent them to the finals instead.

There was a measure of revenge in October 2017. Trinidad and Tobago were already out of contention for the 2018 World Cup, but beat the United States 2–1 in Couva on the final night of qualifying, a result that knocked the Americans out of a World Cup for the first time since 1986.

2026 Qualifying

Trinidad and Tobago reached the third and final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the expanded 2026 tournament, where they were drawn in Group B with Curaçao, Jamaica and Bermuda. Four draws in six matches proved fatal: a 1–1 draw with Jamaica on 13 November 2025 ended their hopes with a match still to play, and they finished third.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
1 Curaçao 6 3 3 0 13 3 12
2 Jamaica 6 3 2 1 11 3 11
3 Trinidad and Tobago 6 1 4 1 7 6 7
4 Bermuda 6 0 1 5 4 23 1

Curaçao won the group to qualify directly, while Jamaica went into the inter-confederation play-offs as one of the best runners-up.

Trivia

  • Trinidad and Tobago's most famous footballer is Dwight Yorke, who won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League with Manchester United in 1999 and later played for Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland. He captained the side at the 2006 World Cup.
  • The national team is known as the "Soca Warriors", after the local soca music.
  • The islands have a population of about 1.4 million. The team's record win is 15–0 against Anguilla in Arima in November 2019, and their heaviest defeats are both 7–0, to Mexico at the Azteca in October 2000 and to the United States in January 2021.
  • Angus Eve is the most capped player with 118 appearances, and Stern John the leading scorer with 70 goals.