Overview:
Haiti’s girls’s under-17 crew will begin its 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Sunday in opposition to Antigua and Barbuda. Followers not solely hope Les Grenadières will make the following spherical of the qualifiers, however additionally they wish to see a rising star. Two gamers that Haitians are placing their cash on are Kerdina Lamour and Dieunie Love Beaubrun.
CAP-HAITIEN —Haiti’s Underneath-17 Ladies’s nationwide crew opens its 2026 Concacaf Women’s U-17 Championship on Jan. 25 in opposition to Antigua and Barbuda in Curaçao because the regional qualifier kicks off this week with hopes {that a} new era of expertise can comply with the trail carved by stars Melchie Dumornay and Lourdjina Etienne.
The sport is a part of the spherical one qualifiers that start on Jan.24 and function step one towards qualification for the FIFA U-17 Ladies’s World Cup, scheduled for Morocco in October and November. Haiti is competing in Group C alongside Guatemala, Cayman Islands, Saint Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda.
For Haitian nationals, the match brings again reminiscences of the previous moments when younger gamers emerged from the regional stage and went on to redefine Haitian girls’s soccer.
Eight years in the past, a 15-year-old from Mirebalais with a frail body surprised girls’s soccer within the area, successful each the top player and top scorer award of the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship. That teenager was Durmonay, now probably the most completed gamers in girls’s world soccer.
“Be careful for quantity 10, she’s a jewel.” “She’s from Petit Goâve, don’t come at her.”
Andresson Jean-François through Facebook
Historical past repeated itself in 2024, when Pétion-Ville native Étienne won the top player award at the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship. Étienne has since moved ahead in her profession and is now growing in France’s prime division with F.C. Fleury.
Because the 2026 qualifiers start, Haitians are as soon as once more watching, not only for outcomes, however to see whether or not one other younger participant can seize the second.
“I need us to qualify and uncover a expertise, similar to Dumornay,” Michelet Jerôme, a Port-au-Prince resident, advised The Haitian Occasions. “We found her expertise early and she or he’s a world-class participant now. She’s taking part in for a giant membership in Europe.”
Dumornay, now 22, performs for OL Lyonnes now in France. She completed 18th within the 2025 Ballon d’Or rating and was among the many prime 5 finalists for Globe Soccer’s 2025 Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months award. She lately received the 433 Awards Ladies’s Participant of the 12 months, receiving 55% of greater than 856,000 votes, due to the assist of the Haitian at residence and the group overseas.
Regardless of Haiti’s political instability and gang violence, which have disrupted sports activities, seven of the 21 gamers referred to as up from the U-17 World Cup qualifiers are primarily based in Haiti. Amongst them, supporters consider two midfielders might emerge as standouts: Kerdina Lamour and Dieunie Love Beaubrun.
Lamour and Love draw followers’ consideration
Lamour, a local of Petit-Goâve, is an attacking midfielder identified for her velocity, intelligence, imaginative and prescient and talent to make use of each ft. She is properly skilled on the youth stage and comfy together with her taking pictures functionality from open play and in free-kicks. She has already represented Haiti on the U-17, the U-15 and the U-20 age group competitions.
She at present performs her membership soccer with Celtic de Petit Goâve, a crew primarily based within the Western commune.
“Kerdina Lamour is among the futures of ladies’s soccer.”
Foot Lokal, sports activities information through Fb
“Be careful for Quantity 10, she’s a jewel,” Andresson Jean-François commented on Facebook. “She’s from Petit Goâve, don’t come at her.”
“Kerdina Lamour is among the futures of ladies’s soccer,” Foot Lokal, a sports activities outlet, posted on Facebook Jan. 15.
Beaubrun, in the meantime, hails from Jeremie, a commune within the Grand’Anse Division and performs for Jeremie F.C. A central midfielder, she helps transfer the ball ahead with fast passes and isn’t afraid to step in, win tackles and disrupt the opposite crew’s rhythm.
In contrast to Lamour, Beaubrun has but to make her official recreation for Haiti. Nonetheless, followers already see her potential in the course of the pleasant video games preparation for the qualifiers and say she turns heads.
“Right here’s the following Melchie,” Ananias Pierre commented on Facebook. “She wears Quantity 8. She’s from Jéremie and is the way forward for Haitian soccer. Haitian Soccer Federation, Caleb Jephté Pierre [sports reporter], wants the correct assist so the world can see her. Good luck, girls.”
2026 Concacaf Ladies’s U-17 Qualifiers
Haiti in Group C: the highway forward
Haiti’s Group C is a aggressive pool the place each match carries weight. All group matches can be performed in Curaçao, with every crew dealing with the others as soon as, and solely the top-placed crew will make the following spherical of the qualifiers. After the round-robin part, the six group winners and the 2 finest second-place groups throughout all teams will advance to the Last Spherical, the place 4 World Cup spots can be up for grabs.
Within the earlier version of the Concacaf Ladies’s U-17 Qualifiers, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA secured qualification for the match additionally held in Morocco. Haiti Les Grenadières didn’t qualify in 2025, so followers hope this 12 months’s qualifiers characterize an opportunity to redeem themselves — and one other alternative for younger gamers to step into the highlight.
“I want them good luck,” Jerôme stated. “I hope the women can wave Haiti’s flag increased by making the following spherical of the qualifiers. Haiti is behind them.”