Bellegarde
Haiti's head coach, Sébastien Migné, has never been to Haiti. "It's impossible because it's too dangerous," he told France Football. "I usually live in the countries where I work, but I can't here. There are no more international flights landing there." In 2024, gangs overran the Stade Sylvio Cator, the country's national stadium in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian Football Federation issued a statement confirming it had lost possession of the ground. Haiti have not played a home match in five years. Their qualifying games were held in the Dominican Republic, Barbados, Aruba, and Curaçao.
They qualified anyway. And on May 15, Migné named his 26-man squad for Haiti's first World Cup in 52 years — the longest gap between appearances in the tournament's history. The 1974 squad lost all three group games and conceded 14 goals. The 2026 squad, built almost entirely from the diaspora, arrives with a different profile: younger, more talented, and shaped by the kind of adversity that no other team at this World Cup has had to navigate.
The squad
Goalkeepers: Johny Placide (Bastia), Alexandre Pierre (Sochaux), Josué Duverger (Cosmos Koblenz)
Defenders: Ricardo Ade (LDU Quito), Carlens Arcus (Angers), Martin Experience (Nancy), Jean-Kevin Duverne (Gent), Duke Lacroix (Colorado Springs Switchbacks), Wilguens Paugain (Zulte Waregem), Hannes Delcroix (Lugano), Keeto Thermoncy (Young Boys II)
Midfielders: Leverton Pierre (Vizela), Carl-Fred Sainthe (El Paso Locomotive), Jean-Jacques Danley (Philadelphia Union), Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Woodensky Pierre (Violette AC), Dominique Simon (Tatran Prešov)
Forwards: Louicius Deedson (FC Dallas), Ruben Providence (Almere City), Josué Casimir (Auxerre), Derrick Etienne (Toronto FC), Wilson Isidor (Sunderland), Duckens Nazon (Esteghlal), Frantzdy Pierrot (Rizespor), Yassin Fortune (Vizela), Lenny Joseph (Ferencváros)
What it tells you
Of the 26 players, only one — Woodensky Pierre of Violette Athletic Club — plays in Haiti's domestic league. Everyone else developed abroad, primarily in France, Belgium, England, Portugal, the United States, and Canada. The average age is 24. Migné stayed loyal to the core of 22 players who carried Haiti through qualifying, valuing chemistry and continuity in a squad that rarely trains together and meets only during international windows.
Wilson Isidor of Sunderland, who switched allegiance from France to Haiti in March, is the squad's most dangerous attacker — six Premier League goals in his debut season and a quality that Haiti have rarely had at their disposal. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde of Wolverhampton Wanderers, 83 Premier League appearances, provides the midfield with creativity and energy. Hannes Delcroix, who was capped by Belgium in 2020, switched to Haiti and adds defensive experience from Lugano. Isidor, Casimir, and Delcroix all chose Haiti over European nations they could have represented — not just sporting choices, but acts of identification with a country many of them have never lived in but whose flag they carry by heritage.
Captain Johny Placide, 38, is the squad's oldest player and its emotional center. Duckens Nazon, Haiti's all-time leading scorer with 44 goals in 76 appearances, was the top scorer in qualifying with six goals, including a hat-trick against Costa Rica. Lenny Joseph of Ferencváros, who came through PSG's academy, arrives off a season of 16 goals and 10 assists — one of the most in-form attackers in the entire squad.
Haiti's football history has one famous footnote: Joe Gaetjens, born in Port-au-Prince, scored the goal that beat England 1-0 at the 1950 World Cup — playing for the United States. Seventy-six years later, Haiti play at the World Cup under their own flag, with their own squad, for only the second time. The stadium back home is occupied. The coach has never visited. The players were assembled from a dozen countries. And still, somehow, Les Grenadiers are here.
Haiti are in Group C alongside Brazil, Morocco, and Scotland. They open against Scotland on June 13 at Gillette Stadium in Boston, face Brazil on June 19 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, and conclude against Morocco on June 24.