Haiti at the Women’s World Cup: A story of horror, hardship… and hope
When the Women’s World Cup trophy reached Haiti earlier this year, very few people on the Caribbean island actually saw it.
World football’s governing body FIFA had embarked on a mission to take the trophy to all 32 nations to have qualified for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. But in Haiti, located on an island around 600 miles south east of the U.S. city of Miami, the tour encountered a problem. It was deemed too dangerous to organise a public parade or large-scale event, as was done in other countries. Instead, the trophy was quietly displayed in a small ceremony, brought in and out of the country under tight security.
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Since the assassination of the country’s president Jovenel Moise in July 2021, life in the country has been extremely difficult and dangerous, as armed groups have taken control of many parts of the capital, Port au Prince, and control roadways, carrying out frequent kidnappings and killings.
The only player from the team present to see the trophy during its visit to Haiti was goalkeeper Kerly Theus, who plays professionally with FC Miami City. For the past two years, the Haitian national team have been training in the neighboring Dominican Republic because of security concerns, and Nicolas Delepine, who took on the job as the team’s manager in 2021, has only ever visited Haiti once. Several of his players are part of Haiti’s large global diaspora, the product of decades of political turmoil and economic difficulties that have driven many to leave the country.
Haiti’s team crystallises much of what it means to be Haitian today, encapsulating the complexities and contradictions of the country’s history. The majority of its players who grew up in Haiti were children in 2010, when a
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