The Underdog Who Never Play at Home: Haiti 2026 World Cup Preview
When qualifying for the 1974 tournament Haiti became the first majority-Black Caribbean country to participate.
Despite facing three top footballing nations in the group stage and ultimately losing every match, the team did not go down without making their mark.
Striker, Emmanuel Sanon is the name that people will remember as he scored in their opening game against Italy two minutes after half time to put Haiti in the lead.
At that moment the Haitian people began to believe, however Italy did eventually end up with a 4-1 victory.
Even though the 2026 squad is also expected to go home after the group stage, it seems this team is willing to fight and make the most of every minute on the world stage.
Les Grenadiers is said to date back to the 18th century and represents not only national pride but the fierce and highly decorated elite soldiers of the Haitian Revolution.
Now they fight in front of the world, and will be looking to cause an upset in North American this summer.
Road to North America
After going through their first qualifying group second behind Curacao, Haiti were underdogs after being drawn in a group with Honduras and Costa Rica in the final round.
Despite making a strong start to the group, that status was only reenforced as a 3-0 loss in Tegucigalpa left them in a perilous position. In November 2025, it seemed as though Haiti were not going to make it to this World Cup.
However, this team managed to spark hope into the nation once again with a 1-0 victory over Costa Rica.
This result was what helped to set up the final of the group as Haiti would take on Nicaragua.
Much to Les Grenadiers delight, they won 2-0. As Honduras and Costa Rica drew 0-0, that victory was enough to secure their place in the tournament.
Head Coach: Sébastien Migné
The man in charge of the team that will be heading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup is French head coach Sébastien Migné. During his coaching career he has been involved with several countries such as Congo, Kenya and Cameroon.
He was appointed in June 2024 and just 18 months later guided the team to World Cup qualification.
Despite achieving this milestone for Haiti, Migné has never been to the country.
This is because of safety concerns relating to issues such as civil unrest, gang violence and high crime rates following a devasting earthquake that hit the island in 2010.
For the same reasons, all of their home qualifying matches have had to be played hundreds of miles away at another Caribbean nation. The country was Curacao, which has recently become the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup.
Player to Watch – Wilson Isidor
Around the middle of May, Migné named his 26 man-squad that features players that compete in leagues around the world. Most notably, he has included two players that played for teams in the 2025/26 Premier League season.
One of those is Sunderland forward, Wilson Isidor. He joined the club on loan from Zenit Saint Petersburg in August 2024 before signing a permanent deal in February 2025 for a fee of £6 million.
Whilst being at the Black Cats, Isidor has made 82 appearances, scored 19 goals and made two assists.
During the 2025/26 Premier League, Isidor became the highest scoring Haitian player in the league with six goals to his name, overtaking the previous record which was held by national teammate Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.
He was also a part of the teams promotion campaign from the Championship in 2025. Moreover, during the clubs first season back in the topflight of English football following an eight-year absence, he also helped them make it into a European qualification spot.
If Haiti are to pull off an upset this summer, then Isidor is poised to play an integral role in shocking the world.
The Group
Haiti have been placed in group C for the tournament and will begin their campaign on 14th June at 2am BST in Boston when they take on Scotland. Both teams will inevitably come out fighting as they will both be wanting to get points on the board early with tough tests to come.
Following that game, the team will travel to Philadelphia where they will meet Brazil on 20th June at 1:30am BST.
Finally, to conclude the group stage, Les Grenadiers will play Morocco in Atlanta on 24th June at 11pm BST.
Expectations
Even though the Haiti national team is not full of star players like others travelling to the World Cup next month, they have the passion to compete and the drive to make a great underdog story come to life.
Anything other than a group stage exit would be a phenomenal achievement, but after the fight that this team has shown to make it this far, writing them off now could be perilous.