Overview:
Melchie Dumornay completed among the many prime 5 finalists for Globe Soccer’s Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months, turning into the primary Haitian to achieve that stage. The 22-year-old OL Lyonnes midfielder continues to cement her place among the many world’s elite, with sturdy prospects to win a world award within the years forward.
Melchie “Corventina” Dumornay didn’t win the Globe Soccer Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months award in Dubai on Sunday. Nonetheless, her inclusion among the many prime 5 finalists marked a historic milestone for Haitian soccer—and one other sign that the 22-year-old homegrown expertise has firmly established herself among the many world’s elite.
FC Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the reigning Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Finest winner, captured the Globe Soccer honor for the second consecutive 12 months throughout the grandiose ceremony held on Dec. 28. The opposite finalists had been Spain’s Mariona Caldentey and Alexia Putellas, and England worldwide Alessia Russo.
Though finalists aren’t ranked past the winner, Dumornay’s presence on the listing made her the primary Haitian participant—male or feminine—to complete within the prime 5 of a world soccer award, a breakthrough second for the Mirebalais native and for Haitian soccer as a complete.
The shortlist announcement earlier this month for the sixteenth version of the worldwide award sparked widespread celebration amongst Haitians at residence and within the diaspora, reflecting Dumornay’s rising symbolic significance past the pitch.
Neither Dumornay nor the Haitian Soccer Federation (FHF) commented publicly following the awards ceremony.
A younger star among the many world’s greatest
Dumornay’s top-five end builds on a string of world recognitions that few gamers her age have matched. This 12 months alone, she positioned 18th within the Ballon d’Or and eleventh in FIFA’s The Finest Ladies’s Participant rankings, regardless of restricted worldwide competitors with Haiti. She additionally gained Concacaf Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months for the second time in two years, after first claiming the award in 2024.
At membership stage, Dumornay loved the best season of her profession. She was named UEFA Champions League Younger Participant of the Season, completed as joint prime scorer in France’s D1 Arkema, and scored in 4 consecutive Champions League matches to assist OL Lyonnes attain the semifinals.
Her affect, nonetheless, was not matched by silverware. Lyon captured solely the home league title in 2025, and Haiti didn’t play a aggressive worldwide match throughout the 12 months—components analysts say weighed towards Dumornay in international voting.
Trajectory nonetheless pointing upward
Globe Soccer winners are chosen by a mix of fan voting and a jury that features former soccer stars Ian Rush, Eric Abidal, Iker Casillas, Francesco Totti and Manchester Metropolis CEO Ferran Soriano.
Based in 2010, the Globe Soccer Awards have turn into considered one of soccer’s main end-of-year honors, recognizing prime performers throughout males’s and girls’s soccer worldwide.
For Dumornay, the 2025 consequence reinforces a trajectory that means international titles could also be a matter of when, not if. With Haiti set to return to the World Cup qualifying marketing campaign in 2026, and with Dumornay getting into her prime years at Lyon, her alternatives to climb larger in international rankings are prone to develop.
OL Lyonnes resumes competitors on Jan. 11 towards Saint-Étienne within the Coupe de France. Les Grenadières, in the meantime, are anticipated to play their subsequent World Cup qualifier in February.
At simply 22, Dumornay is already among the many world’s greatest—and her historic top-five end suggests her biggest accolades should still lie forward.