Haiti's Nations League Home Game Moves to Miami
Haiti will play its Nations League home match against the United States in Miami, after Concacaf approved the move from Kingston, Jamaica. The first leg is set for 14 November. Concacaf, the governing body for football across North America, Central America and the Caribbean, described the decision as an "exceptional hosting arrangement."
The Nations League quarter-final is a home-and-away series, meaning each side hosts one of the two matches. The United States will host the return leg on 17 November. Haiti has not been able to play its nominal home games inside its own borders since July 2021. The United Nations estimates that 90% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, including the national stadium, is controlled by violent gangs.
That has forced Haiti to look elsewhere. It played its World Cup qualifiers in Curaçao, Aruba and Barbados. Its two Nations League qualifiers at Sabina Park in Kingston averaged 297 fans, according to The Guardian.
Miami is a different proposition. Nearly half a million Haitians and their descendants live there, mostly in South Florida. Nu Stadium, where Haiti will now play, opened its international calendar with a pre-World Cup friendly against Peru, a sold-out crowd of 26,700.
Concacaf has been clear that this is not a permanent fix. Haiti and Haiti-based clubs must seek approval for every match they want to play in an opponent's territory. The flexibility will stay in place for as long as the security situation in Haiti persists. The Concacaf Council can change or withdraw the measure at any time.
The match also carries football history. Haiti ended the United States' World Cup qualifying run in 1969. This century, the United States has won four of six meetings with Haiti, and the other two ended in draws.
Haiti's most recent big moment came at the 2026 World Cup, its first finals since 1974. The team lost all three group games, against Morocco, Scotland and Brazil, and played in Massachusetts, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Curaçao and Haiti both advanced to the Nations League quarter-finals from Group A, and the United States will meet Haiti with a place in the last four on the line.
For Haiti's players, the change means a home game without the usual home. For the fans who can make the trip, it means a stadium close to the streets where much of the diaspora lives. Whether the crowd fills Nu Stadium as it did for Peru will be one of the first things to watch when the whistle goes in November.
