Mixed emotions ahead of Haiti vs. Brazil for dually aligned fans headed to the World Cup game

Like many other Haitians, Peguy Joseph is a longtime superfan of Brazil, the world’s greatest soccer power.

In a few days, though – for the first time in his life – he won’t root for the Brazilians. He has a World Cup ticket to see them play, in a wildly improbable matchup, against the team from his beautiful but beleaguered homeland of Haiti.

“It’s a double joy,” said Joseph, who lives in Florida and will travel to Philadelphia to attend the game on June 19, for his birthday. “I’ll be happy if Haiti win — but if Haiti lose, I won’t be sad, because it’s Brazil! It’s the fanaticism. When you love it, you love it.”

Across the U.S., many dually aligned Haitians are feeling a mix of emotions ahead of the upcoming game. It’s part of the first round of the 2026 World Cup, the first to be hosted by three nations, including Canada and Mexico. It’s also the first World Cup held in the U.S. since 1994.

Among those elated to have a ticket for the Haiti-Brazil game is Rafael Saldanha, a Brazilian who lives in New York City.

“I was happy actually, when I learned that Brazil’s going to play Haiti, because I know these are two very friendly nations to each other,” he said.

“Both are nations that have their own internal struggles. But at the same time, these are two countries whose populations manage to be extremely happy ... regardless, or in spite, of the challenges posed on them every day.”

For all its problems, Haiti clings to love of soccer

Haiti — the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation — qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974 with inspiring tenacity, beating better-known rivals against the odds. Since armed gangs control most of the nation's capital where the team’s home stadium is located, Haiti had to play its “home” qualifiers in Caribbean island of Curaçao without the support of its local fanbase.

The national team -- the “Grenadiers” – entered the tournament in Group C along with Morocco, Scotland and their longtime soccer idol, five-time world champion Brazil. The Brazilians currently are ranked sixth in the world; Haiti is 84th.

“It’s almost like David and Goliath — we’re going up against a giant, a huge soccer giant,” said Rachelle Leger a Haitian-American community leader in Philadelphia.

Haitians are fervent soccer fans and deeply patriotic toward their nation — the world’s first Black-led republic and the second independent republic in the Americas after the U.S. But for decades, they’ve rooted for Brazil.

Peguy Joseph, like many of his contemporaries, grew up idolizing Brazilian soccer legends like Romario, Ronaldo Nazario and Neymar that were painted on the bright minibuses known as tap-taps in Port-au-Prince. He wore the iconic yellow jersey whenever Brazil was on TV. And he joined joyous crowds in the capital’s streets that celebrated Brazilian victories as their own.

Many identify with the shared past of both nations — including long stretches where slavery was prevalent —as well as the representation of Black players going back to Brazilian superstar Pelé.

“Brazil feels like a sister country, very similar with culture. We look in the field, and we see people who look like us, doing great things and wish that we could do that ourselves,” said Joel Jean-Baptiste, who was born in New York and moved to Haiti when he was young.

He returned to the U.S. three decades ago and continues to root for Brazil, often wearing the yellow jersey.

When he learned that Haiti would be playing Brazil in the World Cup, he canceled a family vacation to Europe and bought a ticket to the game.

“For us, and for all Haitian kids, Brazil was number one,” he said. “Playing them in the World Cup would be – IS -- the dream, a lifetime dream and has every Haitian national excited to see what’s going to happen this summer.”

Love affair with Brazil's team goes back decades

Many Haitians first fell in love with Brazil’s “jogo bonito” or beautiful play, at the 1982 World Cup, where captain Sócrates led what many regard as the best team ever not to win soccer’s showcase tournament.

For other loyal fans, it was the heartbreak of watching Brazil's elimination against Argentina in 1990. And then the joy when they won titles in 1994 with the duo of Bebeto and Romario, and in 2002, when Ronaldo became the tournament’s top scorer while leading Brazil to its fifth World Cup.

Haitians' support for the Brazilians only grew in 2004 when Brazil led a U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti. It organized a game to promote peace in the Caribbean country, which was still reeling from a violent rebellion that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Thousands of Haitians ran beside an armored convoy that ferried Brazilian greats, including Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, to a stadium in Port-au-Prince.

“It was impressive how there were people the whole way from the airport to here, everybody chanting, ‘Brazil! Brazil!’” Roberto Carlos told The Associated Press that day. Haiti lost 6-0. But Haitian fans still waved Brazilian flags, celebrating the game.

After a devastating 2010 earthquake, thousands of Haitians moved to Brazil, and more recently many have made it their home after escaping unrest and gang violence.

Meanwhile, Haitian communities in the U.S. have been unsettled by efforts from President Donald Trump's administration to end temporary protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians who relocated to the U.S. in recent years.

Yet as the World Cup kicks off, Haitians in their homeland and in the diaspora are putting aside concerns, for a moment, and uniting around their soccer team as it faces Brazil — the most successful powerhouse in the World Cup's history.

“We’re not looking at it like a rival; we’re looking at it as a moment in time," said Rachelle Leger.

“We’re just savoring it, we’re really proud of Haiti making it, we’re really proud to be there to support the team, even though (Haitians) support both teams.”

Against the odds, miracles can happen

Brazil, of course, is an overwhelming favorite to beat Haiti, which is pegged as roughly a 30/1 underdog. But one of soccer’s charms is that seemingly impossible outcomes can happen, says Kirk Bowman, a professor at Georgia Tech whose courses include Soccer & Global Politics and has authored a book about the sport’s globalization.

He cited the FA Cup victory of sixth-tier English club Macclesfield over the Premier League’s Crystal Palace earlier this year. And the famous upset in the 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, when a hastily assembled U.S. team of part-time players — including factory workers, a mailman and a hearse driver — defeated a top-line England team 1-0.

As Bowman noted, that goal was scored on a header by Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian working as a dishwasher and low-paid soccer player in New York. He was carried off the field by the Brazilian spectators, who saw England as the biggest threat to their national team.

Gaetjens never received U.S. citizenship and eventually returned to Haiti. He was killed there in 1964, a victim of the regime of former Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier.

Nonetheless, he earned a place in soccer lore.

“Haiti can believe in another Haitian ’miracle on grass,’” Bowman said via email. “A Haitian already had one.”