Haiti’s men’s national soccer team, known as Les Grenadiers, will play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974. The last time this team competed on soccer’s grandest stage, Richard Nixon was still president.
The squad punched its ticket on November 18, 2025, beating Nicaragua 2-0 to finish atop CONCACAF Group C. It’s only the second World Cup appearance in the nation’s history.
A qualification story unlike any other
Here’s the thing about Haiti’s path to the 2026 World Cup: the team couldn’t even play its qualifying matches at home. Ongoing gang violence and political instability forced Les Grenadiers to host games abroad, a detail that makes the achievement all the more remarkable.
The decisive qualifying campaign included a key victory over Costa Rica that helped Haiti top its group. The 2-0 win over Nicaragua sealed the deal, and celebrations erupted among the Haitian diaspora worldwide, even as parts of Haiti itself dealt with electricity shortages that made watching the match a logistical challenge.
