Les Grenadiers[1] (The Grenadiers) Le Rouge et Bleu[2] (The Red and Blue) Les Bicolores[3] (The Bicolor) La Sélection Nationale[4] (The National Selection)
TheHaiti national football team (French:Équipe d'Haïti de football,Haitian Creole:Ekip Foutbòl Ayiti) representsHaiti in internationalfootball. Haiti is administered by theFédération Haïtienne de Football (English:Haitian Football Federation,Haitian Creole:Federasyon Foutbòl Ayisyen), the governing body forfootball in Haiti. It has been a member ofFIFA since 1934, founding member ofCONCACAF since 1961, and regionally it is a member ofCFU since 1978. From 1938 to 1961, it was also a member ofCCCF, the former governing body of football in Central America and Caribbean, and a predecessor confederation of CONCACAF.Haiti's home ground isStade Sylvio Cator inPort-au-Prince and the team's manager isSébastien Migné.[9]
Haiti is the most successful Caribbean national team in its confederation and the only team from the Caribbean zone to have won a CONCACAF continental title, winning theCONCACAF Championship in 1973. Regionally, Haiti won theCCCF Championship in 1957 (organized by CCCF, the former confederation for the Central American and Caribbean zones), and also twoCFU Championship/Caribbean Cup titles, which were organized by CFU. It is also the only Caribbean national team to have qualified more than once to theFIFA World Cup.
Haiti has one of the longest football traditions in the region and were the secondCaribbean team to make the FIFA World Cup, after qualifying from winning the1973 CONCACAF Championship. They made their World Cup debut in1974, and were beaten in the opening group stage byItaly,Poland, andArgentina, who were all pre-tournament favorites. In 2016, Haiti qualified for the 100th anniversary of theCopa América, by defeatingTrinidad and Tobago.
Haiti qualified for the2026 FIFA World Cup, only the second time they have made it to a World Cup, by defeatingNicaragua 2–0 on the final matchday to top Group C of the qualifiers.[10]
Le Nouvelliste (a Haitian newspaper) of 25 March 1925 describing the encounter between Haiti andJamaica, who played their first official match on 22 March 1925 against their Caribbean neighbors in Haiti. Haiti was defeated 1–2 to the Jamaicans, as the first goal in Haiti's history was scored by Painson in the 86th minute.[11][12]
Following the affiliation of theHaitian Football Federation with FIFA in 1933, Haiti was able to register for the qualifiers for the1934 World Cup in Italy.Les Grenadiers led by coach Édouard Baker,[13] played three games againstCuba, all at theParc Leconte inPort-au-Prince, having lost twice (1–3, 0–6) and one resulting in a 1–1 draw.[14][15]
Haiti would then reappear on the international scene almost twenty years later, since the Federation did not enter the national team for the World Cup qualifiers of the1938 and1950. For the1954 edition held inSwitzerland, the team under Frenchman Baron Paul found themselves in a qualification pool with theUnited States andMexico. Haiti finished in last place, losing all of its matches, with a very heavy defeat conceded to Mexico 8–0.[16] They would again withdraw from the qualifiers for the World Cup until 1970. Regionally, Haiti won in1957 in their first participation in theCCCF Championship including a blowout victory against Cuba 6–1[17] and debuted in the1959 Pan American Games. The selection is defeated heavily by the United States 7–2, andBrazil 9–1, and refused to resume play againstArgentina after an arbitration decision.[18] Victorious against Cuba 8–2, the team finished fourth in the competition.[19] After a 1960 season without international meetings,[12] Haiti led byAntoine Tassy,[20] made its second appearance in CCCF Cup in1961. Second in their group stage behind the host country,Costa Rica, the team finished last the final stage with three defeats in three games and twelve goals conceded to zero goals scored and finished fourth. The team suffered a crushing defeat in its last match to Costa Rica 8–0.[21][22]
In 1961, Haiti joined theCONCACAF, born from the merger of theNAFC and theCCCF. In 1965, Haiti took part in the second edition of theCONCACAF Championship, after being eliminated in qualifying for the inaugural edition (1963 CONCACAF Championship). This continental meeting resulted in a last place finish, losing all five of its matches played; coach Antoine Tassy then resigns.[23][24] However, he returned the following year again as the team's head coach, and won theCoupe Duvalier.[25][26] During the1967 Qualifiers, Haiti finished first and was undefeated atop of its group, ahead ofTrinidad and Tobago.[27] On 16 January 1967, marked its first victory in a competitive match against the Trinidadians, beating them 4–2.[28] However, Haiti in the final round consisting of six teams, finished in fifth place, defeatingNicaragua 2–1 to avoid last place.
As part of thequalifiers for the1970 World Cup hosted byMexico, Haiti are engaged in group 2, in the company ofGuatemala and Trinidad and Tobago. Directed by Antoine Tassy, Haiti was relevant for the first time in qualifying for the World Cup on 23 November 1968, inPort of Spain against Trinidad and Tobago. Haiti will reach rank at the top of the pool with wins against Trinidad and Tobago 4–0 and Guatemala 2–0, one draw against Guatemala 1–1, and one defeat conceded at home against Trinidad and Tobago 2–4 which enabled them to qualify to the second round. They then eliminated the United States before heading to the final round againstEl Salvador. Haiti lost the opening match at home 1–2, but managed to rebound and win 3–0 inSan Salvador before losing again on neutral ground inKingston inJamaica, 1–0 inovertime.[29]
At the CONCACAF Championship in1969, Haiti was disqualified from the final round, when it had qualified in the field by beating the United States (the qualifying round is coupled with the qualifications for the World Cup 1970). Instead, the Federation was unable to register its team for the final round on time to the CONCACAF and therefore could not participate in the final round.[30]
The 1970s could be considered a golden age for Haitian football.[citation needed] Its status in the region remained very strong, being considered thethird strongest team in the CONCACAF after Mexico and arguably Costa Rica.[31] With Antoine Tassy as coach for much of this period, Haiti emerged as one of the strongest teams in theCONCACAF zone, being pooled with other regionally strong football nations such asMexico and Costa Rica. By 1965, players likeHenri Francillon,Philippe Vorbe,Guy Renold Jean François andGuy Saint-Vil were already playing in the team and would be stalwarts of the side in the coming years.
The team reached the final round of the qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup, where they faced El Salvador. After losing the first leg 2–1 at home, the team pulled off a 3–0 win at El Salvador. With each team having one win, the rules of the day dictated a play-off on neutral ground which El Salvador won to secure a place in the1970 World Cup.[32]
In the1974 World Cupqualifiers, Haiti once again reached the final round in a qualifying tournament completely played at home. This time, they topped the group and qualified for their first appearance at the 1974 World Cup. In West Germany, they drew a tough group consisting ofItaly, Argentina andPoland. The first half of their debut game against Italy ended in a scoreless draw, but the team surprised the football world when star forwardEmmanuel Sanon scored shortly after the break to give Haiti a 1–0 lead. Although the Italians eventually came back to win the game 3–1, Sanon's goal ended goal keeperDino Zoff's record run of 1143 minutes without conceding a goal in international matches.[32] The team went on to lose toPoland (0–7) andArgentina (1–4) to finish last in their group.[33]
Haiti would reach the final rounds of the 1978 and 1982 qualifiers, but failed to make the cut. The years since have seen Haiti's footballing status decline markedly. In recent years, the political situation in the country has led to numerous defections from members of the football team. The team has rebuilt somewhat through the Haitian diaspora inMiami, Florida, and some Haitian home games have been played in Miami in recent years. Haiti as of recently has been rising once again as a footballing power in the CONCACAF.
In theJanuary 2010 earthquake, at least 30 people with ties to Haitianfootball perished, including players, coaches, referees and administrative and medical representatives. Twenty others with ties to Haitian football were feared to be buried in the ruins.[34][35][36]
In November 2011, Haiti was knocked out of thequalifiers for the2014 World Cup byAntigua and Barbuda under the leadership of Brazilian coachEdson Tavares. In 2012, Tavares was replaced by Cuban coachIsrael Blake Cantero who led the national team through the2012 Caribbean Championship. Haiti finished third in the Caribbean Championship warranting a spot in the2013 Gold Cup. The following year, Haiti would have a bad string of defeats againstChile,Bolivia,Oman and theDominican Republic. In June 2013, Haiti bounced back from these shortcomings with a close 2–1 loss to reigning world championsSpain and an impressive 2–2 draw with footballing powerhouse Italy, with goals in both games scored byWilde-Donald Guerrier, Olrish Saurel andJean-Philippe Peguero respectively. The2018 World Cup qualifiers had Haiti beatingGrenada to reach thefourth round, where they fell off with only four points - one for a goalless draw withPanama, three for beating Jamaica in Kingston. In 2019, they made the farthest they ever had in theCONCACAF Gold Cup by going 3–0 in the group stages including a last-minute goal against Costa Rica and coming back from a 2–0 deficit againstCanada in the Quarter-finals, winning the game 3–2. However, it all stopped after Mexico got away with a controversial foul which gave Mexico a penalty shot.[citation needed] They would lose the game 1–0.
Haiti began their campaign to qualify for the2026 FIFA World Cup in thesecond round of CONCACAF qualifying. Due to theongoing security and political crisis in Haiti, the national team was unable to host any matches in Haiti, instead playing all of its qualifying fixtures at neutral sites.[37] Haiti advanced to thethird round of qualification in second place of Group C, losing only one match to eventual group winnersCuracao. In the third round, Haiti would be grouped withCosta Rica,Honduras andNicaragua in Group C. Haiti began the round by drawing with both Honduras and Costa Rica, and then defeating Nicaragua. However, a subsequent 3-0 loss to Honduras meant that Haiti would have needed to win both their remaining matches and have other group results go their way to qualify directly. A 1-0 win over Costa Rica, followed by a 2-0 win over Nicaragua on the final matchday, combined with Honduras losing to Nicaragua and drawing with Costa Rica, meant that Haiti finished at the top of Group C, earning direct qualification to the tournament. This marked the country's second appearance in the FIFA World Cup, its first since 1974, breaking a 52-year drought.[38][39]
The Haiti national team utilizes a two-colour system, composed of red and blue. The team's two colours originate from the nationalflag of Haiti,[40] known as thebicolore. Although, during theDuvalier administration in Haiti, the country undergone a color change to its flag, swapping out the blue forblack[41] and it reflected in its 1974 World Cup kit and federation crest.[42][43]
Since the team's inception, Haiti's kit has undergone numerous color pattern variations. The home kit has traditionally been either all blue or a variation of predominately blue shirts, with red shorts and blue socks, while theaway kit has traditionally been inversely worn that is either all red or a variation of predominately red shirts, with blue shorts and red socks.[44] Haiti has occasionally had athird kit, which has traditionally been all white, which the current kit features, along with its all blue colours at home and all red colours away.[45] Haiti also wears the crest of the Federation on its shirt and at times on its shorts as well.
Haiti has been provided kits by a number of manufacturers, some of which have been from a few local and lesser known suppliers. The first known kit manufacturer was Adidas for the 1974 World Cup.[42] In 2013, a five-year contract was reached withColombian manufacturer,Saeta for $1 million.[46][47] After 8 years, the Haitian Federation and Saeta are terminating their agreement. The details of the end date of their contract and the reason for the termination has not yet been released to the general public.[48]
Official regional competition organized byCCCF. It was a predecessor confederation of CONCACAF, affiliated with FIFA as the former governing body of football in Central America and Caribbean, from 1938 to 1961.
^abCourtney, Barrie (31 January 2007)."Haiti – List of International Matches".RSSSF. [://www.rsssf.org/tablesh/haiti-intres.html Archived] from the original on 20 April 2023. Retrieved22 July 2015.{{cite web}}:Check|archive-url= value (help)
^Mora Rivera, José de Jesus; Litterer, Dave; Morrison, Niel; Jönsson, Mikael (4 January 2013)."Panamerican Games 1959".RSSSF.Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved22 July 2015.
^Stollmeyer, J. B., ed. (22 January 1967)."Haiti win Carib soccer crown". Jamaica Gleaner.Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved22 July 2015.
^Press, ed. (3 April 1978)."Je Reviendrai "dit Piontek"" (in French). Le Nouvelliste. p. 4.Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved26 January 2016.
^"Haïti nouveau champion à la Caraïbe".Le Nouvelliste (Haïti). No. 31210. Le Nouvelliste. 19 November 1979. pp. 1–2.Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved24 April 2013.
^Alexandre, Légupeterson; Féquière, Raphael, eds. (6 June 2007)."Une équipe nationale métamorphosée" (in French). Le Nouvelliste.Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved26 January 2016.
^Legupeterson, Alexandre, ed. (3 December 2015)."Haïti perd 4 places". Le Nouvelliste.Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved13 December 2015.