Overview:
Haitian soccer prodigy Lourdjina Étienne signed with F.C. Fleury on July 14. Étienne is broadly seen as essentially the most promising younger Haitian expertise since Melchie Dumornay’s teenage rise to stardom. Her transfer would add to Haiti’s rising legacy in France’s D1 Arkema league.
CAP-HAÏTIEN— Haitian teen sensation Lourdjina Étienne has formally signed with French membership crew F.C. Fleury on July 15, changing into the newest prodigy from the nation to interrupt into Europe’s elite girls’s soccer leagues.
“I want to be among the many greatest,” Étienne told fans in a recent interview.
“I’d additionally wish to carry the membership to a better degree. I’m glad to signal with Fleury.”
For a lot of Haitian athletes, an expert contract overseas is greater than a dream — it’s a lifeline. With home leagues suspended on account of escalating gang violence and political instability, alternatives to develop inside Haiti have vanished. Étienne’s transfer symbolizes greater than private success; it displays the hopes of a era of Haitian gamers who view soccer as one of many few viable paths out of disaster.
Étienne’s switch provides to a rising legacy of Haitian girls excelling in France’s D1 Arkema league, becoming a member of elite gamers like Melchie Dumornay and Batcheba Louis. Her path continues a development almost a decade within the making, the place France has develop into a vital vacation spot for Haiti’s high feminine soccer gamers.
The agile striker from Cap-Haïtien turned 18 on July 14, changing into eligible for her first skilled contract. Her breakout got here in February 2024 on the CONCACAF U‑17 Championship, the place she netted eight objectives in 4 matches and earned the match’s high participant award.
Her efficiency attracted tryouts with elite European golf equipment, together with giants like FC Barcelona, Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain. Though these golf equipment handed, Étienne’s trajectory intently mirrors that of Dumornay, who joined Lyon in 2023 and was named the crew’s Participant of the 12 months.
Dumornay first tried out with Lyon however was signed by a smaller crew, Stade de Reims, the place she proved her price.
Although gifted, Etienne faces formidable alternatives and steep challenges in breaking into Spanish big FC Barcelona’s elite system.
Étienne’s signing additionally comes as home alternatives dwindle. Haiti’s girls’s league has been dormant since early 2022, and gamers have been left to coach independently or in no way. Étienne stayed sharp underneath the steering of longtime coach Johnny Saintilien.
Étienne’s entourage and Haitian soccer followers are extraordinarily delighted as a result of the nation’s starlet is taking her expertise to France, an vital step in her profession.
“I’m glad for her and proud,” Johnny Saintilien, Etienne’s soccer coach when she was in Cap-Haïtien.
This rising presence of Haitian girls’s gamers in France started when Nérilia Mondesir signed her first skilled contract with Montpellier in 2017.
Mondesir paved the way in which as considered one of Haiti’s first exports to the French girls’s soccer league. It was a pivotal second for Haitian girls’s soccer. Dumornay adopted in 2021 with Stade de Reims earlier than shifting to Lyon. Batcheba Louis and Kethna Louis are amongst different Haitian gamers making waves in D1 Arkema.
In Haiti, Étienne final performed for Affiliation Sportive Tigresses in Port-au-Prince. However the native girls’s league has been dormant amid escalating gang violence. With no official matches since early 2024, Etienne skilled recurrently with Saintilien to take care of her sharpness.
“Gamers like [Lourdjina] give me extra energy to assist different gamers make their desires come true.”
Johnny Saintilien, soccer coach
“She’s one of many gamers I spent essentially the most time working with, and I had that dream for her,” Saintilien stated. “The work and sacrifices are lastly paying off.”
In France, she’ll be a part of a rising group of Haitian gamers making an impression in D1 Arkema. A development that started with Mondesir’s transfer to Montpellier and has continued to develop steadily since. In the present day, 13 Haitian girls play within the league, highlighting a uncommon level of satisfaction amid the nation’s mounting turmoil.
Étienne’s absence from the Haitian nationwide crew has been felt. Haiti’s U‑20 squad did not qualify for the 2024 World Cup with out her, and the senior crew has struggled in friendlies.
“Gamers like [Lourdjina] give me extra energy to assist different gamers make their desires come true,” Saintilien added.
Étienne will step right into a league the place Haitian expertise is flourishing — a testomony to the nation’s soccer potential.
Beneath is a listing of all the present Haitian gamers in D1 Arkema.
