Life has certainly thrown Martin Experience its fair share of edge-of-your-seat emotions in recent times. Last 19 November, the standout stopper was revelling in the unbridled joy unleashed after Haiti punched their ticket to the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
There were more thrills and spills for the buccaneering baller on 5 December, when the Caribbeans learned their group-stage fate in the North American showpiece, in which they are poised to pit their wits against Scotland, Brazil and Morocco in Group C. As if that weren’t excitement enough, on 15 May, he discovered he had made the cut in the 26-strong squad named by Sebastien Migne for the global bonanza.
“It’s really amazing, and it’s not really sunk in,” the 27-year-old stopper told FIFA. “It’s hard to actually picture myself there. Until it happens, it doesn’t quite seem real.”
After Les Grenadiers had fired their way past Nicaragua in a 2-0 success to secure qualification, Experience was swept up in the jubilant celebrations, never really taking stock of what the milestone moment could mean for him. Perhaps his involvement in international football’s premier event will hit home once he checks in at Haiti’s Team Base Camp in Port St Lucie, Florida. If not, it will surely register with him when he crosses the white line at Boston Stadium on Saturday, 13 June as the Caribbeans collide with Scotland in the team’s eagerly anticipated curtain-raiser.
“It really is the big boys’ stomping ground,” he said. “We’ve been placed in a group with three strong teams, and the draw really hammered home the fact that we’ve made it to the World Cup.”
While the showdown against Scott McTominay and Co is guaranteed to be high on emotions as the Haitians get their first taste of World Cup action in 52 years, the side’s next outing – against five-time winners Brazil, the most decorated nation in the history of the competition – promises to be a particularly significant affair for the France-born defender, who qualifies to represent the Caribbeans through his father.
“Although they’re a formidable force, they’re the team everyone wants to come up against at the World Cup,” said Experience. “My all-time favourite player is Ronaldinho, so I’ve always had a real soft spot for Brazil. When you line up against the Brazilians, there’s a realisation that you’re going head-to-head with one of the top three teams in world football.”
When quizzed about the fact that his hero will undoubtedly be glued to the action when the Concacaf outfit face off against the swashbuckling Seleção at Philadelphia Stadium on 19 June, Experience was momentarily lost for words: “Wow, I hadn’t even thought about that. That’s mad!”
Despite being the overwhelming underdogs in a rather daunting-looking group, Le Rouge et Bleu will be quietly confident about their chances of leaving their more illustrious opponents red-faced and dishing out the odd dose of the blues. After all, this is a team that know a thing or two about overcoming adversity, with Migne’s side contesting all of their home qualifiers some 500 miles away in Curaçao.
“I’ve always felt that we’re a very close-knit group, which has enabled us to go toe to toe with anyone. The fact that we didn’t play a single match on home soil made our qualification all the more incredible.”
For Experience, who was born in the Breton town of Chateaubriant, representing Haiti always seemed like the natural choice.
“Even when I was coming up through the youth ranks at Rennes, it was already in the back of my mind,” said Experience. “I thought to myself that it’d be amazing to represent Haiti. At that point and given how long it’d been since the national team had last qualified for the tournament, running out at the World Cup seemed like nothing more than a pipe dream.”
The high-octane left-back, who is also capable of operating in the middle third, was contacted by the powers that be at the Haitian Football Federation during the 2020-21 season when he was at French third-tier outfit Avranches, where he shared a dressing room with Moroccan midfield maestro Azzedine Ounahi.
Not in their wildest dreams could the pair possibly have imagined that, six years later, they would find themselves squaring off at the breathtaking Atlanta Stadium in front of some 75,000 spectators.
Experience admitted that his first call-up to the senior national team (for a World Cup qualifying double-header against Canada in June 2021) came as somewhat of a surprise considering that he was then plying his trade in the third rung of French football. Given precious little time to come to terms with the rigours of international football, the following month, he started two of the country’s three encounters at the Concacaf Gold Cup, a competition in which he featured for a second time last year.
“Those were really the first big matches I’d played in my career,” he said. “They really were something else.”
The Rennes academy product subsequently swapped Avranches for league rivals Cholet before checking in at Nancy, a household name in the French game, in July 2024, when he put pen to paper on his first professional contract. During his maiden season with Les Chardons, he was a pivotal figure as they rose to the second tier.
“That promotion went some way towards cementing my status in the national-team set-up and proved I’m here on merit.”
Although things have not always been plain sailing for Experience at Nancy, he chalked up 20 appearances in the recently concluded league campaign and will head stateside having helped the club retain its Ligue 2 status. With that particular objective ticked off, he is now fully focused on shining on the global stage.
“The aim is to make the Haitian people and, above all, my family proud,” said Experience. “Nothing beats the feeling of knowing they’re rooting for you and are right behind you.”
Now an established member of the Haitian squad, the tenacious tackler, for whom experience is fast becoming the name of the game, is well aware that the tournament resonates far beyond the on-field action.
“Our qualification has put smiles on a lot of faces, which is what it’s all about. Football is the one thing that’s providing Haitians with a bit of joy right now.”
The fleet-footed full-back is certainly not the only one of a Haitian persuasion to have experienced a real gamut of emotions in recent times, and the rollercoaster is set to crank up a gear as the islanders prepare to take their place at football’s top table.
