DISCUSSION: Looking Back on Haiti's WC Qualification

In this excerpt from a longer from a longer discussion on Haiti's World Cup qualification, Paul Schmidt-Troschke & Jon Bonfiglio look back on their time in Haiti in late 2025, when Haiti qualified for the finals. The full episode is available on the World Cup Etc/World Sports Etc Patreon page: 

https://tinyurl.com/FriendsofWorldSportsetcPatreon

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:22

World Cup etc.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Hello and welcome to World Cup, etc. with me, Paul Schmitroschke, and today you will listen to an excerpt of the second episode of our three-part miniseries on football in Haiti on our Friends of World Sports, etc. Patreon page. This is a conversation between a Latin America correspondent and colleague John Bon Filo and me, looking back at our visit to Haiti, which took place six months ago. If you want to listen to the full episode and get access to our growing library of premium content, you can find the link to our Patreon page in the show notes. But for now, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It's six months ago now that we were in Haiti and that Haiti qualified for the World Cup. And it was such a world I mean, we went we didn't go for the football, we went for the elections, which didn't happen. And then suddenly the football emerged. Looking back on it now, with this sort of distance, how how do you feel about that whole experience and everything that we witnessed and experienced there in Haiti in November of 2025?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah, um it's funny because yesterday I was uh looking at um yeah at a map with all the all the different country flags of the 48 countries uh which uh which successfully qualified for the World Cup this year. And it was still very bizarre to see um the flags of Curaçao and of course of Haiti um yeah on the same page as uh for example my uh with my the home country Germany or Brazil. Um they're up there with uh with the world's best in the sports. Um and also important to note is that uh qualifying for the World Cup was not um their only sporting or Haiti's only sporting success. Also, um there were some first appearances, at least uh in a long time, um, at the uh Winter Olympics of all competitions. Um and the and the Winter Paralympics as well. Um for example, with uh with a Haitian banker, I think, who lost one lakh um competing in the sport as the first Haitian ever. Um but apart from that, regarding my own experiences, um I mean they're still very, very vivid. I'll never forget them, especially the um uh the Haitian National Football League game between uh AS Capuas and Baltimore FC. Um very yeah, also quite in my experience bizarre situation because you you drive through very narrow roads and everything is very busy. A honk, you hear honking everywhere, and then at the there there's a there are two walls, and at the corner of the of the of the two walls is a is a little door, and then you go through this little door, and then you are in the stadium, and thousands of people are there, and you you have the the teams there with professional kids and you have uh not too much security guards, but you have security guards there, and uh you feel not that I felt uh unsafe outside of the stadium, but inside of the stadium it's it's just a classic football, football atmosphere, um of course in very special circumstances. And uh and yeah, and also the the quality of the game was uh I would say when I hear Haitian National Football Um League, uh definitely better than better than expected. And uh yeah, that is also probably one reason um why why Haiti qualified this year.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, it's um I think you're right. One of the my sort of memories of of that game was that suddenly in a context in which Haiti and Haitians are continually just thinking about the next five minutes, what's gonna happen in the next half hour, how do you get through the next hour, the next day, that that um that uh going to that match, being in that stadium was almost a relief. It's a complete focus on one thing for a short period of time which is not based around um the complexities around existence and uh and survival. And then the other thing I'd just add to that is I think um there's uh perpetually a sort of a sense, I think, in Haiti of something being about to happen. And you don't know whether that's weather, of course, or whether that's gangs or or violence, or just even just a um a rain shower can just bring waste tumbling down the hillside, of course. Um it is a perfect storm of complexities and and difficulties. And and I and I think that's where the football comes in and is all the more remarkable for it because it is of course it is a sport, but it also becomes much more important given the context that Haitian Haitians are uh living and existing in and have done for for for so long now.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

So that's it from us for today.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

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SPEAKER_01 5:56

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SPEAKER_02 6:03

Also check out our World Sports, etc. podcast for more sports news and stories. And with that, thank you so much for listening and goodbye.