Haiti. The pre-tournament read.

Haiti arrive at the 2026 World Cup with a story rather than a knockout case. Fifty-two years between tournament appearances, a generation of diaspora-developed players Migné has welded into a squad, and a structural reality that the country's footballing infrastructure has been catastrophically affected by the 2010 and 2021 earthquakes plus a decade of political instability. Group C is the hardest possible draw. The pre-tournament expectation is to lose three matches and exit with goal difference; the realistic ceiling is to score a goal in open play. Sanon's 1974 strike against Italy is the structural memory the country is travelling on. Any 2026 result — a draw, a goal, a competitive 90 minutes against a top-twelve nation — is what the tournament is for.

AGENT-AUTHOREDAgent-authored tournament read. Treat the framing and group outlook as editorial judgement; sourced facts are separated below.

Top three starsAGENT-AUTHORED

Pendikspor · Centre-forward
Duckens Nazon
Captain and the senior attacking presence. The most-capped active Haitian player and the focal point Migné's compact 4-3-3 has been organised around.
FC Lorient · Forward
Frantzdy Pierrot
The second striker option, Ligue 2 first-choice, and the player whose direct running provides the counter-attacking depth the Migné system requires.
Auxerre · Right-back
Carlens Arcus
France-born, France-raised, the post-2010-generation defender who chose Haiti at senior level. The most-decorated full-back available to Migné and the player the back-line is anchored around.

Qualifying scorer sketchAGENT-AUTHORED

Agent-authored figures · needs verification before match-use.

01 Duckens Nazon · Pendikspor4 g · 5 of 6
02 Frantzdy Pierrot · FC Lorient3 g · 6 of 6
03 Jean-Ricner Bellegarde · Wolves2 g · 5 of 6

Road to 2026

15 APR 2023
Sébastien Migné appointed head coach
Haitian Football Federation went outside the country with an explicit 2026 qualification brief. Migné had previously coached DR Congo and Kenya.
15 NOV 2025
Haiti qualify through CONCACAF's expanded qualification window
The 2026 cycle's six direct slots (up from 3.5 at Qatar 2022) created the opening. Haiti finished the qualifying competition with a place in North America for the first time in 52 years.
5 DEC 2025
Drawn into Group C with Brazil, Morocco, Scotland
Brazil under Ancelotti is the seeded test. Morocco are the Qatar 2022 semi-finalists. Scotland are at their first World Cup since 1998. The pot-4 task is to compete rather than win.

Did you knowGROUNDED

Haiti have appeared at one previous World Cup — West Germany 1974, where they lost all three group matches (1-3 Italy, 0-7 Poland, 1-4 Argentina). Their goalscorer Emmanuel Sanon — the goal against Italy that briefly gave Haiti the lead in their opener — remains the country's most-cited football moment in any tournament.
The 2026 World Cup is Haiti's second-ever appearance and their first in 52 years — the longest gap between World Cup qualifications by any country at the 2026 tournament.
Haiti's squad is now drawn almost entirely from the post-2010-earthquake diaspora — France-born, Canada-born, and US-born players with Haitian heritage who have chosen the country at senior level. Fewer than half of the likely 26-man squad were born in Haiti.
Emmanuel Sanon's 1974 World Cup goal against Italy (Dino Zoff's record-breaking run of clean sheets ended by Sanon at 1,143 minutes) was the country's only ever World Cup goal until any 2026 result.

Manager + squad

In charge since 1 APR 2023

Sébastien Migné

French, ex-DR Congo and ex-Kenya at senior level. The post-2010-earthquake generation of Haitian football has rebuilt almost entirely around French-born and Canadian-born players with Haitian heritage; Migné's brief has been to weld that diaspora into the kind of compact, defensively-organised squad capable of competing in CONCACAF's expanded qualification window.

Squad status

Provisional squad announced — final cuts pending

The rest of Group C

Brazil
Morocco
Scotland

← All 12 groups