Overview:
Haiti’s males’s nationwide workforce kicks off a six-match run to lock in a spot within the 2026 FIFA World Cup, beginning with a match in opposition to Honduras in Curaçao on Friday, Sept. 5. Reaching the sequence breaks a 50-year drought for Haiti, whose workforce is now made up of gamers skilled overseas.
When Haiti kicks off its six-game run on Friday to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup within the Concacaf qualifiers, it will likely be the primary time in 50 years that the nation’s nationwide soccer workforce may earn a assured spot. However in contrast to the final time Les Grenadiers certified instantly, the gamers are all expatriates or born overseas to Haitian dad and mom, boosting the chance that Haiti will make all of it the way in which.
The Concacaf Group C meetups are set to start on Sept. 5, with the Grenadiers enjoying Honduras at Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curaçao (8:00 p.m. EST), one of many venues the place Haiti has been internet hosting “residence” video games ever since gang exercise in Port-au-Prince made it too harmful to play within the Haitian capital.
But, regardless of the difficult circumstances, Haitians at residence and overseas are proud to have reached this milestone after half a century. They credit score the pipeline of Haitians based mostly overseas–comparable to star midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde–for supplying gamers for all positions who’re armed with the tactical self-discipline and different attributes that may show decisive in opposition to the Grenadiers’ Central American rivals.
If profitable, the lads’s marketing campaign will ignite the flames amongst followers already having fun with a momentous time in Haitian soccer. One which noticed the Haitian ladies’s workforce wow international audiences within the 2023 World Cup and the boys’ crew qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in November.
Now, it’s the lads’s flip. Bellegarde agrees. “I’m very proud to affix the nationwide workforce,” the newcomer stated to the Haitian Soccer Federation (FHF) media. “I’m right here to make a distinction, and I hope it goes nicely,” the midfielder added as he landed in Curaçao.
Chasing first qualification in over 50 years
The final time the Grenadiers had a direct qualification run, they made historical past by defeating Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico to symbolize Concacaf within the World Cup in 1974.
Throughout this lone look on the worldwide stage, Haiti scored solely two objectives, each by legendary forward Emmanuel “Manno” Sanon, together with one memorable shot in its debut in opposition to Italy, the eventual champions. However, that first World Cup participation was heroic, particularly contemplating all Concacaf nations competed for just one spot on the time.
Since then, Haiti has alternated between common and disastrous qualifying campaigns. Its final three FIFA World Cup qualifiers—Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022— confirmed each potential and frustration for Haitian followers. Within the 2014 qualifiers, the Grenadiers reached the third spherical however fell quick. The 2018 qualifiers led to a significant disappointment after Haiti was eradicated within the last spherical. Within the 2022 Qatar cycle, Haiti went to the second spherical however misplaced 4-0 on mixture to Canada.
Such crushing disappointments underline each the progress and the fragility of Haiti’s males’s program, as every cycle confirmed promise in addition to inconsistencies in group, infrastructure and participant availability. And not using a functioning nationwide league and a collapsed home construction, home-based soccer gamers grew to become largely absent from the setup, leaving the sector open to those that have constructed their careers in elite environments abroad.
Concacaf qualifiers match-up particulars
Concacaf, the Caribbean, Central and North American regional convention, is made up of 41 taking part nations competing in a number of rounds. For the 2026 World Cup qualifiers that started in March 2024, the Concacaf international locations, excluding america, Canada and Mexico—as a result of they qualify routinely as host nations—are within the last stage. Twelve groups are damaged out into three teams of 4 for the match. Haiti is in Group C, with Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Every workforce, in every group, is about to play three residence and three away matches between September and November. The three group winners qualify instantly for the World Cup. The 2 greatest second-place finishers in that last qualifying spherical of 12 nations advance to an intercontinental playoff scheduled for March 23-31, 2026.
If each Concacaf groups win intercontinental playoff matchups, the area will earn eight spots within the 48-nation match. That features america, Mexico and Canada, already certified as host nations for the summer season video games, plus the three international locations that can safe their spots instantly from the ultimate qualifying spherical ending in November.
Haiti workforce fills up roster with its diaspora
Since 2021, consequently, the roster has been full of gamers coaching overseas as expats or as youngsters of Haitians residing in different international locations. One issue is Haiti’s ongoing instability, which has repeatedly pressured the nation to depend on foreign-based gamers. One other, maybe extra crucial consequence, is that Haiti advantages from the gamers’ constant, high-level publicity on the sector and upgraded coaching amenities to make sure top-level health.
Clearly, the technique, albeit borne of necessity, is bearing fruit.
Going into the competitors, the Grenadiers’ core is fused with gamers from the U.S. Main League Soccer (MLS), South America, Europe and Canada’s skilled leagues. One participant is predicated within the Gulf nations. France, particularly, is probably the most crucial expertise hub for Haiti. A number of of Haiti’s key internationals got here by way of French academies and golf equipment, and even performed for France at youth ranges earlier than opting to symbolize their dad and mom’ homeland.
It’s small surprise that Haiti’s breakout star is Bellegarde, a proficient midfielder presently enjoying for the English membership Wolverhampton Wanderers, born in France to Haitian dad and mom. Identified for his versatility—succesful in central, defensive and attacking midfield roles—the 27-year-old logged 35 Premier League appearances final season alone, scoring two objectives and offering seven assists. Along with his rising affect in that high division, Bellegarde was known as up for his first cap forward of this qualifying sequence.
Different exceptional gamers to observe through the finals embody:
- Fafà Picault, the veteran winger now with Inter Miami CF, provides tempo and creativity to the Grenadiers’ assault.
- In midfield, Danley Jean-Jacques, who joined the Philadelphia Union after making an impression in French Ligue 2 with FC Metz, supplies youthful power and defensive assist.
- Up entrance, Louicius Don Deedson, who not too long ago signed with FC Dallas, pairs with high veteran strikers Duckens Nazon of Persian Gulf Professional League membership Esteghlal F.C. Don Deedson can stretch defenses along with his velocity and motion.
- Frantzdy Pierrot of Greek Tremendous League membership AEK Athens additionally gives extra mobility up entrance and goal-scoring choices along with his fast and powerful presence.
- Veteran goalkeeper and captain Johnny Placide of French Ligue 2 SC Bastia supplies assurance and expertise.
- Ricardo Adé of the Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (LDU Quito) membership within the Ecuadorian Skilled League provides solidity, stability and sport tempo management within the coronary heart of Haiti’s protection.
Broader momentum felt throughout Haitian soccer
The boys’s marketing campaign coincides with a excessive level for Haitian soccer throughout all classes. The U-17 boys’ workforce not too long ago secured its spot on the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar this November. The ladies’s nationwide workforce may also kick off its 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympic qualifying bids.
The ladies, Les Grenadières, surprised the world with their 2023 FIFA Girls’s World Cup debut in opposition to mighty England and eventual match runners-up. With Melchie Dumornay and different gamers coaching overseas on its roster, Haiti helped CONCACAF take six berths within the match for the primary time in historical past.
Within the 2026 Concacaf W Championship qualifiers, they’re the favorites in Group D in opposition to the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Belize and Anguilla. Haiti’s ladies may also clinch a spot at each the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Altogether, all these successes spotlight a renaissance for Haitian soccer, pushed largely by diaspora gamers and abroad coaching camps.
To make sure, the senior Grenadiers face quite a few challenges on their six-game path to the World Cup. Costa Rica and Honduras boast stronger infrastructure and deeper rosters. However, for a lot of observers and soccer followers, optimism runs excessive. To see a nation battered by crises achieve a World Cup berth can be greater than a sporting win. It might be an emblem of hope, a second of exhilarating reprieve.
Group C’s FIFA Rankings
Among the many Concacaf area’s 41 nations, right here’s the place the Group C international locations rank.
- Costa Rica sits amongst CONCACAF’s elite, rating fifth with roughly 1,493 factors.
- Honduras ranks sixth with 1,380 factors and recurrently challenges for qualification.
- Haiti ranks tenth with 1,261 factors, forward of Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago.
- Nicaragua, the group’s underdog, is ranked thirteenth at roughly 1,120 factors.
After the Haiti-Honduras match on Sept. 5, Haiti will meet Costa Rica on the Nationwide Stadium in San José, Costa Rica (10:00 p.m. EST) to face the host nation.