While Haiti's official football league struggles, summer “vacation” teams across the country are drawing players with cash, regular matches and big crowds, the Haitian Times reports.

James Céné, a defensive midfielder, plays for Ouanaminthe FC during the official season and for summer clubs the rest of the year. “We fall asleep on those motorcycle rides because we're so tired,” he said. “But we have to do it because that's what we have.”

The summer leagues began as recreation during school vacation. Today some feature players arriving in limousines, video refereeing and cheerleaders, and the season stretches into the fall. The Mundialito in Gonaïves brings together 24 teams. The Interzone League of the Northwest has 15 clubs.

The money is better too. Sources told the newspaper that summer teams commonly pay at least $100 a match, while professional clubs pay roughly $150 a month. Buissereth Begory, director of the club Bèl Kolòn in Aquin, said he expected to spend about $7,660 on salaries for 18 players in a two-month tournament, with support from the diaspora and ticket sales. One of his group matches drew about 2,900 spectators.

The official league, run under the Haitian Football Federation, has faced interruptions, unpaid referees and travel problems as insecurity has grown since 2019. Baltimore SC of Saint-Marc withdrew from a Caribbean club competition this year because it could not arrange travel to Trinidad and Tobago.

Some want to merge the two worlds. “If the vacation league teams can play, put them in the national league,” said John Sévère, who coached in the league for 25 years. Jimmy Rémy, a member of the league's executive committee, disagrees: “It's impossible to just take a vacation team and put it in the top division.”

“The country's situation broke the national league,” said Douby Jean, a sports reporter with Haiti-Tempo.