Named: The World Cup country whose fans could be BANNED from the tournament because of Donald Trump order

Haiti fans may be banned from supporting their country at next summer's World Cup despite qualifying for the tournament.

The Caribbean country secured their place on Tuesday night for just the second time in history as they topped a qualifying group that included Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. 

However, fans from the country may not be able to support their team in the US due to a travel ban implemented by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

In June, Trump signed an order that put 12 countries on a banned list that stated those from those nations could not travel to the US. This was done to 'protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people', the 79-year-old claimed.

The prohibition means neither immigrants or non-immigrants from Haiti can come into the country, with the order at the time titled: 'RESTRICTING THE ENTRY OF FOREIGN NATIONALS TO PROTECT THE UNITED STATES FROM FOREIGN TERRORISTS AND OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS'.

Haiti has been embroiled in civil unrest and political crisis ever since Jovenel Moise, the previously elected president, was assassinated in 2021. The UN have since said armed gangs now control most of the country's capital Port-au-Prince, with travellers warned not to enter the country due to risk of kidnapping, crimes, terrorist activity and civil unrest.

This means that the national team have been playing their home matches in Curacao, 500 miles away, something that makes their achievement all the more impressive.  

When explaining the ban on Haiti, Trump's order claimed government statistics showed those coming from the country had a relatively high record of overstaying their visas.

It added: 'Hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden Administration. This influx harms American communities by creating acute risks of increased overstay rates, establishment of criminal networks, and other national security threats. 

'As is widely known, Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States.'

Despite these concerns, there is an exemption within the order for 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State'.

This means Haiti's team - which includes Wolves' star Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Burnley's Hannes Delcroix - should be fine to compete. 

It remains to be seen if any special provisions are introduced for fans in light of Haiti's qualification but in 2017, a year before the US, Mexico and Canada were awarded the tournament, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said there would be 'no World Cup' if supporters of any team didn't have access to the country where it was taking place. 

Speaking earlier this year, Infantino added: 'America will welcome the world. Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun and to celebrate the game will be able to do that.' 

There are an estimated 852,000 Haitian immigrants currently in the US, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, meaning those already there should at least be able to support the team, with more than 50 per cent of those based in Florida. 

Last year, Haitians were in the news when Trump bizarrely made the baseless claim that immigrants from the country in Springfield, Ohio, had taken and eaten their neighbours' cats and dogs.  

Iran are the only other country to qualify for next summer's tournament whose nationals remain on the travel ban list.