The Most Famous

SOCCER PLAYERS from Haiti

This page contains a list of the greatest Haitian Soccer Players. The pantheon dataset contains 21,273 Soccer Players, 12 of which were born in Haiti. This makes Haiti the birth place of the 90th most number of Soccer Players behind Gabon, and Thailand.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Haitian Soccer Players of all time. This list of famous Haitian Soccer Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Haitian Soccer Players.

1. Emmanuel Sanon (1951 - 2008)

With an HPI of 52.73, Emmanuel Sanon is the most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.

Emmanuel "Manno" Sanon (25 June 1951 – 21 February 2008) was a Haitian professional footballer who played as a striker. He starred in the Haiti national team winning the 1973 CONCACAF Championship. Haiti qualified for the finals of the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Though they lost all three matches Sanon scored twice in the tournament. His goal against Italy when he ran onto a pass from Philippe Vorbe was the first conceded by Italian keeper Dino Zoff in 1,142 minutes of football. Sanon won his home national championship in 1971 with top-level Don Bosco. He then won the Belgian Cup in the Belgian Pro League in 1979 with the K. Beerschot V.A.C. Sanon is among the "Les 100 Héros de la Coupe du Monde" (100 Heroes of the World Cup), which included the top 100 World Cup Players from 1930 to 1990, a list drawn up in 1994 by the France Football magazine based exclusively on their performances at World Cup level.

2. Ernst Jean-Joseph (1948 - 2020)

With an HPI of 47.49, Ernst Jean-Joseph is the 2nd most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ernst Jean-Joseph (11 June 1948 – 14 August 2020) was a Haitian football midfielder who played for Haiti in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He played for Violette A.C. and briefly for Chicago Sting. In the summer of 1976, he played in the National Soccer League with Ottawa Tigers. Described as a "red-haired mulatto" by Brian Glanville, Jean-Joseph failed a doping test after Haiti's opening match with Italy in 1974. After first contending that he had received a “lot of pills” from his physician in Haiti for treatment of asthma (and being contradicted by the team doctor, who told the media he had no such ailment), he admitted that he had used a stimulant containing phenmetrazine to improve his performance. Jean-Joseph was the first player to be suspended for using a banned substance in the history of the World Cup. The vice-president of the Haitian FA, Major Acedius St. Louis, was also the commander of the Leopards, a notorious elite battalion of the Haitian army under Jean-Claude Duvalier’s personal command. Haitian officials dragged Jean-Joseph out of the Grünwald Sports School in Munich where the team had been staying, beat him, and held him over night at the Sheraton Hotel and flew him back to Haiti. The terrified Jean-Joseph had made several phone calls to a sympathetic hostess who passed on the information to the designated team attaché, Kurt Renner. The World Cup organizing committee, furious at Renner for telling the story to the media, removed him from his post. Jean-Joseph's World Cup experience was not the end of his international career. Jean-Joseph played in seven 1978 World Cup qualifiers and one 1982 World Cup qualifier, a 1–0 win over Netherlands Antilles on 12 September 1980 in Port-au-Prince. Jean-Joseph later became manager of Violette A.C.

3. Henri Françillon (b. 1946)

With an HPI of 46.66, Henri Françillon is the 3rd most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Henri Françillon (born 26 May 1946) is a Haitian former international footballer who was part of the Haitian squad at the World Cup in Germany in 1974 where he played in all three group matches. He played as a goalkeeper. He played for the Haitian Victory SC and German TSV 1860 Munich. In 1976, he played in the National Soccer League with Ottawa Tigers.

4. Claude Barthélemy (1945 - 2020)

With an HPI of 45.02, Claude Barthélemy is the 4th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Claude Barthélemy (9 May 1945 – 6 April 2020) was a Haitian footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a striker. He played for AS Capoise between 1961 and 1964, then joined Racing Club Haitien until 1967, and played one season for the Detroit Cougars in 1968. He played for the national team between 1965 and 1977, including two games at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Barthélemy died in 2020 in New Jersey.

5. Joe Gaetjens (1924 - 1964)

With an HPI of 44.84, Joe Gaetjens is the 5th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Joseph Edouard Gaetjens ( GAY-jenz; March 19, 1924 – July 10, 1964 [presumed]) was a soccer player who played as a center forward. Born in Haiti, he represented its national team before and after playing for the United States team in the 1950 FIFA World Cup, in which he scored the winning goal in the 1–0 upset of England. Gaetjens won his home national championship in 1942 and 1944 with top-level Etoile Haïtienne. He then moved to the American Soccer League (ASL) and led all players with 18 goals in 15 games for New York's Brookhattan during the 1949–50 season. He was posthumously inducted into the United States National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1976. Gaetjens is among the Les 100 Héros de la Coupe du Monde ("100 Heroes of the World Cup"), which included the top 100 World Cup Players from 1930 to 1990, a list drawn up in 1994 by the France Football magazine based exclusively on their performances at World Cup level.

6. Guy François (1947 - 2019)

With an HPI of 43.77, Guy François is the 6th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Guy François (18 September 1947 – 3 June 2019) was a Haitian football midfielder who played for Haiti in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Violette A.C.

7. Guy Saint-Vil (b. 1942)

With an HPI of 43.53, Guy Saint-Vil is the 7th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Guy Saint-Vil (born 21 October 1942) is a Haitian football forward who played for Haiti in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Racing CH. In the United States, he played for the Baltimore Bays in their inaugural year in 1967 for the NPSL, and continued with them into the NASL in 1968. He later joined the Baltimore Comets in 1975. His younger brother, Roger Saint-Vil, was also a professional player.

8. Arsène Auguste (1951 - 1993)

With an HPI of 43.22, Arsène Auguste is the 8th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Arsène Auguste (3 February 1951 – 20 March 1993) was a Haitian international footballer who represented Haiti in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He played professional club football with Racing Club Haïtien in Haiti and New Jersey Brewers, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the United States. Auguste scored the game-winning goal in the 66th minute of a 2–0 victory for Tampa Bay in the Soccer Bowl '75. In 1978 and 1980 he was part of the losing side in the Soccer Bowl finals, once each with Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale. On both occasions his side fell to the New York Cosmos, by scores of 1–3 and 0–3, respectively. In 1986, he again signed with the Rowdies, then playing in the American Indoor Soccer Association. Auguste played in 15 World Cup qualifying matches for Haiti from 1973 to 1981, the last of these being a 1–1 draw with Mexico in the 1981 CONCACAF Championship in Tegucigalpa. He died of a heart attack on 20 March 1993 while mowing his yard in Miami, Florida.

9. Wilner Nazaire (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 42.03, Wilner Nazaire is the 9th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Wilner Nazaire (born 30 May 1950) is a Haitian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He appeared at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

10. Roger Saint-Vil (1949 - 2020)

With an HPI of 41.05, Roger Saint-Vil is the 10th most famous Haitian Soccer Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Roger Saint-Vil (also spelled St. Vil) (8 December 1949 – 7 June 2020) was a Haitian footballer who played professionally in the United States and Haiti. A left winger, he was a member of the Haitian national team at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Saint-Vil attended Tertullien Guilbaud primary school. In 1963 when he was sixteen, he signed for Zénith in the Haitian Third Division. In 1964, he moved to Racing Club Haïtien. He began with team's third division team, but after three games, he was called up to the first team. At some point, he moved to Violette Athletic Club. In 1974, he played for Archibald FC in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1975, he played an unknown number of games, scoring eight goals, with the Cincinnati Comets of the American Soccer League. In 1974, Saint-Vil was an integral part of the Haiti national team's successful qualification campaign for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. His older brother, Guy Saint-Vil, was also a professional player. On 7 June 2020 he died in New York.

People

Pantheon has 19 people classified as Haitian soccer players born between 1924 and 1989. Of these 19, 10 (52.63%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Haitian soccer players include Guy Saint-Vil, Wilner Nazaire, and Pierre Bayonne. The most famous deceased Haitian soccer players include Emmanuel Sanon, Ernst Jean-Joseph, and Henri Françillon. As of April 2024, 8 new Haitian soccer players have been added to Pantheon including Henri Françillon, Guy Saint-Vil, and Wilner Nazaire.