Schoolchildren in Haiti stage their own World Cup in call for peace

As the FIFA World Cup prepares for kickoff, schoolchildren in Haiti are playing along. Forty-eight schools have been chosen to represent the 48 countries in the World Cup and stage their own tournament.

As part of the World Cup celebrations, which this year will feature the participation of a Haitian national team for the first time in 54 years, the UN Bureau in Haiti and the NGO Viva Rio have selected 48 schools to represent the 48 countries in the World Cup and to stage their own tournament.

The tournament is named Ti Mondial 2026 and organisers hope the sport will be a call for peace, rebuild trust in a country deeply affected by violence.

The opening ceremony of the tournament had children standing by the flags of the countries they represented.

Delynoi Christel, Coordinator and director of the education and art program at VivaRio has high hopes for the tournament:

“Ti Mondial 2026 means a game for peace, lets play for peace," said Christel.

Haiti — the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation — qualified for the World Cup for the first time in more than half a century 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.

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 US.

As the World Cup kicks off, Haitians in their homeland and in the diaspora are, for a moment, setting aside concerns and uniting around their soccer team as it faces its first opponent on Group C, Scotland, on June 13.