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)
The Haiti national football team (French: Équipe d'Haïti de football, Haitian Creole: Ekip Foutbòl Ayiti) represents Haiti in men's international football, which is governed by the Fédération Haïtienne de Football (English: Haitian Football Federation, Haitian Creole: Federasyon Foutbòl Ayisyen), the governing body for football in Haiti founded in 1904. It has been an affiliate member of FIFA since 1934 and a founding affiliate member of CONCACAF since 1961. Regionally, it is an affiliate member of CFU in the Caribbean Zone. From 1938 to 1961, it was a member of CCCF, the former governing body of football in Central America and Caribbean and a predecessor confederation of CONCACAF, and also a member of PFC, the former unified confederation of the Americas.
Haiti has qualified for the FIFA World Cup twice (1974 and 2026). It is the only Caribbean team to have qualified twice.
Haiti has participated seventeen times in CONCACAF's premier continental competition, it is the only Caribbean team to have won a title, winning the CONCACAF Championship in 1973. The team's best performance under the CONCACAF Gold Cup format was reaching the semifinals in 2019. It has participated twice in League A and twice in League B of the CONCACAF Nations League. It has also participated once in the Copa América, which was the 100th anniversary edition in 2016.
Haiti's home ground is Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince and the team's manager is Sébastien Migné.[8] Haiti has one of the longest football traditions in the region, being the second Caribbean team to make the FIFA World Cup, after qualifying from winning the 1973 CONCACAF Championship. They made their World Cup debut in 1974, and were beaten in the group stage by Italy, Poland, and Argentina, who were all pre-tournament favorites. In 2016, Haiti qualified for the 100th anniversary of the Copa América, by defeating Trinidad and Tobago. Haiti qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the second time in its history, after defeating Nicaragua 2–0 in Curaçao, on the final matchday to top Group C of the qualifiers.[9]
History
Early years
Le Nouvelliste (a Haitian newspaper) of 25 March 1925 describing the encounter between Haiti and Jamaica, 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.
Following the affiliation of the Haitian Football Federation with FIFA in 1933, Haiti was able to register for the qualifiers for the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Les Grenadiers led by coach Édouard Baker,[12] played three games against Cuba, all at the Parc Leconte in Port-au-Prince, having lost twice (1–3, 0–6) and one resulting in a 1–1 draw.[13][14]
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 the 1938 and 1950. For the 1954 edition held in Switzerland, the team under Frenchman Baron Paul found themselves in a qualification pool with the United States and Mexico. Haiti finished in last place, losing all of its matches, with a very heavy defeat conceded to Mexico 8–0.[15] They would again withdraw from the qualifiers for the World Cup until 1970. Regionally, Haiti won in 1957 in their first participation in the CCCF Championship including a blowout victory against Cuba 6–1[16] and debuted in the 1959 Pan American Games. The selection is defeated heavily by the United States 7–2, and Brazil 9–1, and refused to resume play against Argentina after an arbitration decision.[17] Victorious against Cuba 8–2, the team finished fourth in the competition.[18] After a 1960 season without international meetings,[11] Haiti led by Antoine Tassy,[19] made its second appearance in CCCF Cup in 1961. 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.[20][21]
In 1961, Haiti joined the CONCACAF, born from the merger of the NAFC and the CCCF. In 1965, Haiti took part in the second edition of the CONCACAF 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.[22][23] However, he returned the following year again as the team's head coach, and won the Coupe Duvalier.[24][25] During the 1967 Qualifiers, Haiti finished first and was undefeated atop of its group, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.[26] On 16 January 1967, marked its first victory in a competitive match against the Trinidadians, beating them 4–2.[27] However, Haiti in the final round consisting of six teams, finished in fifth place, defeating Nicaragua 2–1 to avoid last place.
As part of the qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup hosted by Mexico, Haiti are engaged in group 2, in the company of Guatemala 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, in Port 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 against El Salvador. Haiti lost the opening match at home 1–2, but managed to rebound and win 3–0 in San Salvador before losing again on neutral ground in Kingston in Jamaica, 1–0 in overtime.[28]
At the CONCACAF Championship in 1969, 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.[29]
In the 1970s, Haiti's status in the region remained very strong, being considered the third strongest team in the CONCACAF after Mexico and arguably Costa Rica.[30] With Antoine Tassy as coach for much of this period, Haiti emerged as one of the strongest teams in the CONCACAF zone, being pooled with other regionally strong football nations such as Mexico and Costa Rica. By 1965, players like Henri Francillon, Philippe Vorbe, Guy Renold Jean François and Guy 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 the 1970 World Cup.[31]
In the 1974 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 of Italy, Argentina and Poland. The first half of their debut game against Italy ended in a scoreless draw, but the team surprised the football world when star forward Emmanuel 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 keeper Dino Zoff's record run of 1143 minutes without conceding a goal in international matches.[31] The team went on to lose to Poland (0–7) and Argentina (1–4) to finish last in their group.[32]
Late 1970s-2000s
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 in Miami, 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.
Earthquake of 2010 and aftermath
In the January 2010 earthquake, at least 30 people with ties to Haitian football 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.[33][34][35]
In November 2011, Haiti was knocked out of the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup by Antigua and Barbuda under the leadership of Brazilian coach Edson Tavares. In 2012, Tavares was replaced by Cuban coach Israel Blake Cantero who led the national team through the 2012 Caribbean Championship. Haiti finished third in the Caribbean Championship warranting a spot in the 2013 Gold Cup. The following year, Haiti would have a bad string of defeats against Chile, Bolivia, Oman and the Dominican Republic. In June 2013, Haiti bounced back from these shortcomings with a close 2–1 loss to reigning world champions Spain and an impressive 2–2 draw with footballing powerhouse Italy, with goals in both games scored by Wilde-Donald Guerrier, Olrish Saurel and Jean-Philippe Peguero respectively. The 2018 World Cup qualifiers had Haiti beating Grenada to reach the fourth round, where they fell off with only four points - one for a goalless draw with Panama, three for beating Jamaica in Kingston. In 2019, they made the farthest they ever had in the CONCACAF 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 against Canada in the Quarter-finals, winning the game 3–2. However, it all stopped after Mexico scored a penalty late in the game.[36] They would lose the game 1–0.
2025: Return to the World Cup
Haiti began their campaign to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the second round of CONCACAF qualifying. Due to the ongoing 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 the third round of qualification in second place of Group C, losing only one match to eventual group winners Curacao. In the third round, Haiti would be grouped with Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua 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]
Team image
Colours
The Haiti national team utilizes a two-colour system, composed of red and blue. The team's two colours originate from the national flag of Haiti,[40] known as the bicolore. Although, during the Duvalier administration in Haiti, the country undergone a color change to its flag, swapping out the blue for black[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 the away 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 a third 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 with Colombian 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 by CCCF. 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.
12Courtney, 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. Retrieved 22 July 2015.{{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
↑Press, ed. (2 February 1934). "Le Match D'Hier" (in French) (13223ed.). Le Nouvelliste. p.1. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
↑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. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
↑Stollmeyer, J. B., ed. (22 January 1967). "Haiti win Carib soccer crown". Jamaica Gleaner. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
↑independent, Associated Press The Associated Press is an; City, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York (3 July 2019). "Mexico outlasts Haiti in Gold Cup semifinals". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
↑Press, ed. (3 April 1978). "Je Reviendrai "dit Piontek"" (in French). Le Nouvelliste. p.4. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 26 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. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
↑Saiz, Gastón, ed. (6 November 2002). "Proyecto Haití" (in Spanish). La Nacion. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
↑Alexandre, Légupeterson; Féquière, Raphael, eds. (6 June 2007). "Une équipe nationale métamorphosée" (in French). Le Nouvelliste. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
↑Legupeterson, Alexandre, ed. (3 December 2015). "Haïti perd 4 places". Le Nouvelliste. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
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1 (19 January 2026) [5] 
Haiti 1–2 Jamaica 
Haiti 13–0 Sint Maarten 
Mexico 8–0 Haiti 
Costa Rica 8–0 Haiti 
