In turbulent times, football brings Haiti hope

Haiti's ongoing security crisis has displaced more than a million people and killed thousands over six years, damaging sports infrastructure including the FIFA Goal Center in Croix-des-Bouquets and the Sylvio Cator Stadium, both hit by named gangs controlling surrounding territory. The national football league has had to halt its regular championship because gangs control the roads to the country's south and north.

Despite this, the Grenadiers qualified for the 2026 World Cup without playing a single qualifying match on home soil, and Haiti's U14 team won its third Caribbean Football Union title, beating Jamaica 4-0 in the final. The Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Civic Action held a homecoming reception at the Port-au-Prince airport, where officials highlighted individual scoring performances.

The young players had trained at a two-month camp near the Dominican border, run by the Haitian Football Federation, before returning to a country where the stadiums they might one day fill are controlled by men with noms de guerre.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.