Pair : Ken-Rick Ferdinand JOSEPH
With the flow of emigration throughout the world, several countries like Haiti and those in Africa are forcing them to rely on dual nationals, making their selection competitive. For a poor country like Haiti, attracting a dual national is not so simple. It is also not a question of patriotism, much less a simple manifestation of will, but above all it requires a whole mechanism merging the state, the Haitian Football Federation, the private sector, the diaspora and the Haitian people in General. How to achieve this?
The dream of playing in the 2026 World Cup is possible if and only decision-makers act rationally. Despite the fact that national football is facing major problems, the context requires that the top saturates of the national selection mainly consist of players playing abroad, but especially dual nationals. Indeed, to achieve the dream, we need a positive plot to attract the best binational players to finally have a competitive national selection capable of competing with the best teams in the Region.
The role of the STATE
The state must play a determining role in attracting dual nationals. in addition to administrative processes, through several State structures whether at the level of the Ministry of Sports, the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs The state must be concerned with adequate means to help the Haitian football federation in the quest for repatriation of binational talents.
Obtaining a Haitian passport for binational players, a real Chinese headache.
Since the recent revelations of corruption at the Haitian embassy in Washington and at the Haitian football federation, facilitating dual nationals to obtain a Haitian passport is becoming more and more complicated. Archival problems linked to proof of blood or soil rights are more recurrent, the slowness in the system is detrimental both for the athletes but also for the country which needs all its sons and daughters to be competitive at the most level.
The Ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities
The Ministry of the Interior and the Haitian Football Federation must sign a memorandum of understanding in order to form a bipartite commission for the specific processing of the files of binational players, thus administrative paperwork will be managed in a more efficient manner. efficient. There is too much slowness in this procedure.
Little Anecdote: While the United States organized the 1994 World Cup, in less than two months the American state as well as the federation accelerated the procedures linked to “CITIZENSHIP” in order to facilitate players to represent the country. However, this model can help us better conquer binational talents, because many of them complain about the slowness of administrative procedures.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports and Civic Action (MJSAC)
One of the main missions of the MJSAC is to implement development plans for the rational practice of sport, the achievement of better sporting performances in international sporting events and the harmonious development of sport in Haiti. In this sense, the Ministry of Sports should have a development fund allocated to the Haitian football federation thus materializing the attractiveness of our selections to our dual nationals. However, the MJSAC must have a careful look at how the FHF uses funds intended for this or that project. Transparency and rigor must be the compass of our sporting institutions; opaque management at this level is very detrimental to the growth of our sport.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE)
Following the dizzying rise in insecurity and the resurgence of violence in Haiti, the country is experiencing serious problems linked to immigration. Our clubs and our selections have suffered the consequences. The most recent cases are those of Cavaly and the U-17 men’s national team. Despite Cavaly’s qualification for the 1/8 finals of the CONCACAF Champions League, the red horse was unfairly refused American visas by the embassy. to face New England in the United States. This situation led to the elimination of the Leoganais club.
Furthermore, the U-17 men’s selection went through an adventure before finding authorization to set foot on Dominican soil last year, despite the FHF taking several steps with the Dominican consulate and the Dominican sports ministry to alleviate the situation without the help of the MAE. Haitian athletes are ambassadors in their own right, in addition to the problems facing the country, they have raised the Haitian flag in international competitions.
Indeed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must get involved to make the task easier for our representatives, the treatment that foreign countries reserve for Haitian athletes is not dignified. Hence the intervention of the MAE is extremely important. The ministry must also continue to develop relations with diplomatic representations in Haiti to facilitate the processing of Haitian athletes’ files.
The Haitian Football Federation
“Haitian football has now returned to a form of dependence on binational players or exclusively on expatriates” The national selection draws on the pool of foreign championships. It doesn’t cost much. It’s less expensive. We avoid having a slightly more ambitious sports policy in Haitian football.
Notwithstanding the problems of corruption and sexual abuse at the level of the FHF and the Camp Nou training center, thus leading to the removal for life of the former boss of the FHF Dr Yves Jean Bart. The Haitian football federation now operates under the supervision of FIFA through the standardization committee established 3 years ago. No development project, this committee is content to liquidate current affairs, it is limited financially since FIFA has no longer granted FIFA Forward funds for 3 years. The development of Haitian football is at an impasse.
Beyond all its considerations, the Haitian football federation must act. Haiti has a large diaspora, in France, Canada, the United States but also almost everywhere in Europe. The FHF must put in place a policy to attract these Haitians from the diaspora. The Federation must then send, like any large club, ‘scouts’, people from the Federation responsible for supervising and identifying talented young players. The FHF can also serve stars of the selection or former players to help convince other binational talents to join the Haitian national teams.
Dual nationals need the support of the Haitian public.
According to Me Nathan LAGUERRE, the Haitian public needs to show much more interest in binational players or Haitian expatriates. “Through social media the Haitian public must follow all Haitian footballers as the national team could benefit from their service. We must congratulate them, encourage them and show them our interest and our love so that they feel loved and valued by the people. Thus their interests in joining the ranks of the national selection could increase exponentially.
In Conclusion, The reality of Haitian football is as it is at the moment. Current decision-makers as well as all sectors must come together to find viable mechanisms for the development of Haitian football. We need this plot to achieve this in a short, medium and long term project.
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