In December 2025, FIFA's Council confirmed the creation of the FIFA U15 World Cup. It was announced that these new "festival" competitions, intended for boys (2026), girls (2027), and both (from 2028), would be open to all 211 FIFA member associations, regardless of their size or footballing tradition.<\/p>

About 191 FIFA member associations will be represented at this year's U15 World Cup. Among them is Haiti. The Haitian delegation left the country for Azerbaijan on Saturday, October 17. However, the list of selected players was announced on Tuesday, October 20.<\/p>

An U15 team that should mainly consist, according to several sources, of players from the Haitian U14 team that won the CFU Challenge Series U14 last August in the Dominican Republic. Yet, only 4 players from that team have traveled to Azerbaijan. Quite strange!<\/p>

Here is the list of the 14 selected players:<\/p>

Marc Evens Lubin (Idéal FC)<\/p>

Djoovinsky Woodney Succès (SLG Académie)<\/p>

Richardson Bernard (FEF)<\/p>

Prasseley Lamartinière (Exafoot)<\/p>

Luis Alberto III Etienne (Charlotte FC)<\/p>

Marvens Fenelon (SLG Académie)<\/p>

Messi Jay Jean (Cefoj Foot Go)<\/p>

Hanelson Antoine (Idelo FC)<\/p>

Jodley Sheeckensley Delmas (Exafoot)<\/p>

John Hadry Awards Junior Laroque (Les Cayes FC)<\/p>

Aridou Benoît (JAF)<\/p>

Clavens Myrthil (AS Grand-Goâve)<\/p>

Noah Desrois (Orlando City)<\/p>

Christopher Charles (Les Rouleurs FC)<\/p>

In this list, we can note the presence of the top scorer of the CFU Challenge Series U14, Jodley Sheeckensley Delmas. However, players like Jerry Petit-Homme (impactful during the CFU Challenge Series U14), Wensley Dumorné (MVP CFU Challenge Series U14), Woodney Charleston (the driving force of the Haitian U14 team), and Pelé Janvier (best player of the U17 Challenge League) are notably absent.<\/p>

The Hovsan Sports Complex, specially built for this event in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will host most of the matches of the FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival 2026, while the finals by level will take place at the Crystal Hall in the city. More than 3,000 players, coaches, and officials are expected to flow into Baku this week.<\/p>

The competition will take place in an innovative format of 8 against 8, with two periods of 20 minutes. Nearly 1,000 matches will be played, thanks to infrastructure that allows for 20 simultaneous matches across multiple fields, each capable of hosting up to 10 matches per day.<\/p>

This first edition of the U15 World Cup in Azerbaijan promises to be a historic and unprecedented adventure for Haitian football. Despite the questions surrounding coach Raúl Triana's choices and the unexpected absence of several key players from the team that triumphed at the CFU Challenge Series U14, the 14 Grenadiers selected are ready to defend the national colors in this global tournament.<\/p>