Haiti's Violette AC adds to its remarkable Champions League narrative

Regular fans of the CONCACAF Champions League are used to shocking upsets, but Violette AC's 3-0 win over Austin FC earlier this week is one of the most surprising wins in tournament history. The longstanding Haitian side, in continuous operation since 1918, faced intense challenges on its way to the tournament.

The teams will play a rematch Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

In 2010, Violette was forced from its home stadium when the Haitian earthquake razed Port-au-Prince. The team has been nomadic since, bouncing between stadiums in neighboring Dominican Republic.

In 2021, after Haitian FA president Yves Jean-Bart was charged with sexual assault, Violette's Ligue Haitienne collapsed entirely. The 2021 season was never finished, and the 2022 and 2023 seasons never started.

"In Haiti, keeping a team alive, even when it's not in competition from May to today, is a feat," former Violette player Ralph Kernizan told NPR. "Let's imagine the financial implications, keeping training staff, problems the players face with the growing insecurity in Haiti."

With no stadium and no domestic league, Violette still managed to win the Caribbean Club Championship in 2022, clinching its Champions League spot. It is the tournament's only Caribbean representatives and biggest winner of the first round of games. 

Violette entered its match against Austin having not played a professional match since that Caribbean final in May 2022. The Austin-Violette match was played in the Dominican Republic.

"It's very hard getting anything out of Haiti," Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver said before the match. "We're really going to have to go down there with the idea that there are going to be some unknowns."

Austin coach Josh Wolff gambled with those unknowns, fielding a junior B-team against Violette. Haitian forward Miche-Naider Chery caused havoc amid Austin's inexperienced back line, defeating the defenders twice in the air in the first half alone before an own goal put the match out of reach for the Texas side.

"We'll rebound," Wolff assured the media.

Austin must win Tuesday's rematch in Texas by at least three goals — and refrain from conceding — to keep its Champions League run alive. Violette, meanwhile, simply has to show up and play, a task that may prove difficult given the bureaucratic red tape it has faced trying to procure visas to the States.

In many ways, though, Violette has already won. With a squad value of just $160,000 — 1/320th of Austin's— it has dominated the matchup and the narrative between the two.

On Tuesday, fans all over North America will be rooting for it to dominate once more.