One nation qualified for the World Cup this week - and their manager has never set foot in the country

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 Nov 2025 05:11 CST
• 2 min read

Nieuws

After Tuesday's action, there are now 42 confirmed teams for the World Cup draw in December, with another six teams to be decided via the playoffs.

The nations who have qualified are...(take a breath):

USA, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia, Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti and New Zealand.

As the 2026 World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams, there are some nations involved that aren't tournament regulars, such as Haiti, who reached just their second World Cup after defeating Nicaragua 2-0 in qualifying this week.

Intriguingly, Haiti qualified despite the fact that their head coach, Sebastien Migne, has never actually set foot in the country.

The 52-year-old Frenchman was appointed 18 months ago and has masterminded qualification to the World Cup but unlike basically every other nation's coach, he has never visited the country he will represent at the Finals.

This is because of conflict in Haiti that has forced the national team to play their home matches 500 miles away in Curacao - another nation who has defied the odds to qualify for the tournament.

In 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti and since then there has been major disorder and turmoil, with armed factions taking control of the nation's capital Port-au-Prince. There has since been widespread conflict and even famine.

Would-be visitors have been warned against going into the country, including Migne.

"It's impossible because it's too dangerous," he told France Football magazine.

"I usually live in the countries where I work, but I can't here. There are no more international flights landing there. They [the Haitian football federation] give me information, and I manage the team remotely."

Naturally, there are no players in the Haiti contingent who play professional football for a club in the country itself as the squad is foreign-based.

There last outing at a World Cup was back in 1974 as they found themselves in a tough group alongside Argentina, Poland and Italy as they lost every match to be eliminated at the group stage.

From the Concacaf region, they will be joined in 2026 by Panama and Curacao as well as host nations, the USA, Mexico and Canada.

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