For the first time since 1974, Haiti is going to the World Cup. The men’s national team, known as Les Grenadiers, punched their ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Nicaragua, ending a drought that stretched more than half a century.
That’s 52 years between appearances. To put that in perspective, the last time Haiti played on football’s biggest stage, Richard Nixon was still president.
A moment of light in overwhelming darkness
The qualification landed differently for Roobens Michel than it might for fans in countries where football is a pleasant weekend distraction. Michel was forcibly displaced from his neighborhood in Solino in November 2024, driven out by the gang violence that has consumed large swaths of Port-au-Prince. He watched the qualifying matches from a KID displacement camp in the Haitian capital.
He described feeling joy. Not cautious optimism, not temporary distraction. Joy. The kind that’s nearly impossible to manufacture when you’ve lost your home to armed groups and your daily reality involves navigating one of the most dangerous cities in the Western Hemisphere.
