Tens of thousands of Haitians poured into the streets of Port-au-Prince late Tuesday to celebrate the country’s first berth in the World Cup in more than 50 years, a rare outburst of public joy in the beleaguered Caribbean nation.
Soccer is Haiti’s most popular sport, and Haitians follow the quadrennial tournament avidly, despite limited electricity and intermittent reception. But with little international success, they typically support South American powers Argentina or Brazil.
The Grenadiers secured their first tournament appearance since 1974 Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over Nicaragua in Willemstad, Curaçao, where they have been based since their home stadium in Haiti’s capital fell under gang control last year. The World Cup will be hosted next year by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Heavily armed criminal organizations drove schoolteacher Osma Joseph and his family out of the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood of Port-au-Prince in 2023. He joined in the post-match revelry.
“It’s extraordinary, especially given the country’s chaotic situation,” Joseph told The Washington Post. “It shows us the country will not perish. It’s a source of price for all Haitians because this victory is a spark that can bring peace back to the country.”
Tuesday was also Battle of Vertières Day, when Haitians celebrate their decisive 1803 victory over French colonial forces, which secured the independence of the world’s first Black republic.
The nation of 12 million is being crushed under the weight of overlapping crises. There’s been no president since the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and no legislature since the last senators’ terms expired in 2023. Gangs control roughly 90 percent of the capital, the United Nations estimates, and are pushing into the countryside. Some 1.3 million Haitians have been driven from their homes.
A transitional governing council and a U.N.-backed international police force tasked with restoring order so new elections may be held have proved largely ineffective. The U.N. Security Council in September approved a better armed, more aggressive gang suppression force but it’s not clear when it might be deployed.
More than 1,200 people were killed by gangs, vigilantes and security forces from July through September, the U.N. office in Haiti reported this month. Four hundred people were sexually assaulted and 145 were kidnapped.
Suspected gang members fired on U.S. Marines assigned to protect the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince last week in what U.S. officials said was the most significant exchange this year. In a separate incident, Haitian forces lost a helicopter during an operation in a gang-controlled area northeast of the capital, authorities said.
For the Haitian national team, the security crisis has had profound consequences.
It’s been playing home matches at Willemstad’s Ergilio Hato Stadium. Sébastien Migné, its French coach, hasn’t been to Haiti since he was appointed; many of its players are Haitian nationals who live abroad and play for foreign clubs.
It has also struggled with internal challenges.
Yves Jean-Bart, longtime president of the Haitian Football Federation, was banned from the game for life in 2020 after FIFA found he had sexually harassed and abused female players.
Jean-Bart, a former member of the FIFA Council and acting president of the Caribbean Football Union, denied wrongdoing.
A normalization committee was established to help restore the institution, but domestic soccer has largely ground to a halt. Not a single player on the national team plays professionally in Haiti.
“This qualification leaves me speechless. I can’t even put into words what I’m feeling,” said Nathan Laguerre, director general of the Haitian Ministry of Youth, Sports and Civic Action.
“Two or three years ago, Haitians would have thought it was pure fantasy. We went through every emotion during these qualifiers.
Haiti has become the first country in history to qualify for the World Cup without playing a single match at home.
It’s extraordinary. And we faced opponents who were stronger than us.”
Haitian stars Louicius Don Deedson and Rúben Providence scored before halftime Tuesday and the team held on for the victory, which sent it leapfrogging over Honduras to finish first in Concacaf’s Group C. Deedson is a right winger for Major League Soccer’s FC Dallas; Providence is a French-born forward for the second-division Dutch club Almere City.
“This qualification reignites hope, inspires young people, strengthens national cohesion and restores to an entire people the conviction that together, anything remains possible,” the Haitian presidential office said in a statement.
In 1974, the country’s only previous World Cup appearance, Haiti scored two goals before being eliminated in the first round. Most of the players on that team were local men who were trained in the country, according to former senator Patrice Dumont, a Haitian sports commentator.
Dumont said he had struggled to make his way through the jubilant crowds in Pétion-Ville, one of the few Port-au-Prince neighborhoods not under gang control as he returned home after the match.
“This is a country with immortal vitality, redeeming itself even in its degradation,” he said. “How did Haiti qualify for the World Cup when it is a pariah, crushed by misery and violence? It’s a country apart. We want to be part of the world, and the players keep hope alive for this country.”
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