Brenet’s Journey: From Curaçao to Germany's World Cup Stage

Curaçao’s flag will fly at this World Cup, but its team tells a very Dutch story.

The Caribbean island remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and for decades its people have headed north, chasing work, education, and opportunity. Their children and grandchildren now form the spine of a national side only recognised by FIFA in 2010. Of the 26 players in the current World Cup squad, just one was actually born on Curaçao – and he is the most familiar name: Tahith Chong.

Chong’s path is well known. The wiry winger broke through at Manchester United, collecting 16 competitive appearances before a stuttering six‑month loan at Werder Bremen in 2021. He has since landed at Sheffield United, and with that he joins a sizeable German‑linked contingent in this Curaçao squad.

Six of them have Bundesliga or lower‑league German history on their CVs. Chong at Bremen. Gervane Kastaneer at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Riechedly Bazoer at VfL Wolfsburg. Roshon van Eijma at Preußen Münster. Jürgen Locadia and Joshua Brenet at TSG Hoffenheim. For one of them, Sunday’s opener against Germany is not just a World Cup match. It is a reckoning.

The Nagelsmann Gamble That Backfired

When Hoffenheim paid €3.5 million to take Joshua Brenet from PSV Eindhoven in 2018, it looked like smart business. He arrived as a three‑time Eredivisie champion, already capped twice by the Netherlands, and recruited in part at the urging of a rising coaching star: Julian Nagelsmann.

On paper, it fit perfectly. A dynamic right‑back, comfortable in an attacking system, stepping into a club that prided itself on exactly that. But the move quickly soured.

Brenet began life in the Bundesliga on the bench. Then came the first big rupture. Before Hoffenheim’s historic Champions League debut against Shakhtar Donetsk, he skipped a video session. Nagelsmann’s response was ruthless: he dropped the defender from the squad for that landmark night.

The door opened again later in the season, but only a crack. Brenet drifted in and out of the side, never really convincing. When Nagelsmann left, any remaining credit evaporated.

From First Team to Fourth Tier

Alfred Schreuder, now Nagelsmann’s assistant with Germany, took over at Hoffenheim and simply did not use Brenet. Not once. Under Sebastian Hoeneß, the slide accelerated. Brenet was pushed down to the reserves in the Regionalliga Südwest, Germany’s fourth tier.

On‑field struggles were only part of the story. Repeated disciplinary problems – including persistent lateness – stained his reputation. Hoffenheim tried and failed to move him on for a fee. Only in 2022 did they finally cut ties, allowing him to join Twente Enschede on a free.

Back in the Netherlands, the football started to look like it once did. Brenet impressed on the pitch. The comeback seemed to be taking shape.

Off it, he unravelled again.

Courtrooms, Community Service, and a Career on the Run

In January 2023, Brenet was caught driving without a licence. Twice. In two weeks. He had already lost that licence in 2020 after a drink‑driving offence. The pattern was impossible to ignore.

The judge did not mince words. “He clearly has no regard for authority. It seems to me as though he is continuing to play football after receiving a red card,” the presiding judge said, before handing down a one‑month prison sentence in 2024.

It was not his first conviction. Back in 2021, Brenet had received a suspended sentence, including a fine and community service, for domestic violence. The prison term for driving without a licence was later converted on appeal into community service, but the damage was done. Twente terminated his contract.

His career went into fast‑forward mode. He resurfaced at Al‑Rayyan in Qatar, where he featured only six times in the 2024/25 season. Then came a move to Livingston FC in Scotland last autumn. By the second half of the campaign he was on the move again, this time to Kayserispor in Turkey.

From Eindhoven promise to a three‑stop tour across Qatar, Scotland and Turkey in barely a year. A football life lived on the margins.

A New Flag, Old Faces

Now he is back on the biggest stage, under a different flag.

Despite a long history in Dutch youth teams and a senior debut for Oranje in the 2016 World Cup qualifiers, FIFA eventually granted Brenet permission to switch allegiance to Curaçao, his parents’ homeland. The decision has transformed his international career.

Since his debut for Curaçao in 2024, he has scored six goals in 17 appearances – a remarkable return for a right‑back. In the final warm‑up game against Aruba, he started in his usual role on the right side of defence and found the net again.

On Sunday at 7 pm, the journey loops back on itself. The 32‑year‑old will line up for Curaçao as they launch their World Cup campaign against Germany – and against Nagelsmann and Schreuder, the coaches who once deemed him surplus to requirements in Hoffenheim.

From a Caribbean island to Dutch youth glory, from courtrooms to the Regionalliga, from Al‑Rayyan to Livingston to Kayserispor. Now, one more stage, one more judgment.

What kind of Joshua Brenet will Germany see this time?