[9] Haiti has one of the longest football traditions in the region and were the second Caribbean team to make the World Cup, after qualifying from winning the 1973 CONCACAF Championship.

Les Grenadiers led by coach Édouard Baker,[12] played three games against Cuba, all at the Parc Leconte in Port-au-Prince, having lost twice (1–3, 0–6) and one resulting in a 1–1 draw.

[13][14] Haiti would then reappear on the international scene almost twenty years later, since the Federation did not enter the national team for the World Cup qualifiers of the 1938 and 1950.

For the 1954 edition held in Switzerland, the team under Frenchman Baron Paul found themselves in a qualification pool with the United States and Mexico.

Regionally, Haiti won in 1957 in their first participation in the CCCF Championship including a blowout victory against Cuba 6–1[16] and debuted in the 1959 Pan American Games.

Directed by Antoine Tassy, Haiti was relevant for the first time in qualifying for the World Cup on 23 November 1968, in Port of Spain against Trinidad and Tobago.

Haiti lost the opening match at home 1–2, but managed to rebound and win 3–0 in San Salvador before losing again on neutral ground in Kingston in Jamaica, 1–0 in overtime.

[citation needed] Its status in the region remained very strong, being considered the third strongest team in the CONCACAF after Mexico and arguably Costa Rica.

[30] With Antoine Tassy as coach for much of this period, Haiti emerged as one of the strongest teams in the CONCACAF zone, being pooled with other regionally strong football nations such as Mexico and Costa Rica.

With each team having one win, the rules of the day dictated a play-off on neutral ground which El Salvador won to secure a place in the 1970 World Cup.

The first half of their debut game against Italy ended in a scoreless draw, but the team surprised the football world when star forward Emmanuel Sanon scored shortly after the break to give Haiti a 1–0 lead.

In a January 2010 earthquake at least 30 people with ties to Haitian football perished, including players, coaches, referees and administrative and medical representatives.

[33][34][35] In November 2011, Haiti was knocked out of the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup by Antigua and Barbuda under the leadership of Brazilian coach Edson Tavares.

In June 2013, Haiti bounced back from these shortcomings with a close 2–1 loss to reigning world champions Spain and an impressive 2–2 draw with footballing powerhouse Italy, with goals in both games scored by Wilde-Donald Guerrier, Olrish Saurel and Jean-Philippe Peguero respectively.

In 2019, they made the farthest they ever had in the CONCACAF Gold Cup by going 3–0 in the group stages including a last-minute goal against Costa Rica and coming back from a 2–0 deficit against Canada in the Quarter-finals, winning the game 3–2.

Although, during the Duvalier administration in Haiti, the country undergone a color change to its flag, swapping out the blue for black[37] and it reflected in its 1974 World Cup kit and federation crest.