Haitian footballer Melchie Dumornay on her goals for life
Melchie Dumornay aims high
“A new challenge awaits me,” posted Haitian footballer, Melchie Dumornay on social media in mid-January.
On July 1st, the teenager started her new chapter in her burgeoning career, signing for the leading club in the women’s game, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin.
Before then, the highly rated 19-year-old will finish the season at the club that offered her a first-ever professional contract and made her childhood dream of playing football for a living come true.
Despite clamorous offers from other big clubs in the women’s game – from the US, UK and beyond – Dumornay chose French side, Stade de Reims for her first foray out of Haiti, a club noted for nurturing young talent while also providing valuable experience in one of Europe’s top leagues, Division 1 Féminine. The side are one of the 12 founding members and came a creditable seventh last season.
A friendly face also welcomed Dumornay to the squad; compatriot and close friend, Kethna Louis, who provided a familiarity from home when both are far from it. Dumornay settled quickly, providing two assists in a league game against Issy, coming on in the second half with the score at 1-1. The final score, thanks to Dumornay’s input, was 3-1 to Reims.
She's way better than the other players
Head coach Amandine Miquel believes this rapid adaptation to playing in another country was due to one simple reason: “Because she's way better than the other players,” she told football website Goal in March. “I think she's at 30 per cent of her level right now. For me, this is going to be one of the best players in the world in the next few years.”
The same month Miquel made those comments, Dumornay topped the NXGN women’s list – which rates the world's best teenage footballers – for the first time after two previous fifth places.The 19-year-old midfielder from Haiti was awarded the NXGN award from Goal.com in 2022 as the best teenage player in the world and signed her first professional contract with France’s Reims club in 2021. She’ll be jumping to Lyon, though, after signing a deal with that club that runs through June 2026. This will be her first World Cup.
Women’s World Cup goal
Awards are not new to the teen, at club or international level. At CONCACAF’s Women’s Under-17 Championship in 2018, which includes nations from North and Central America and the Caribbean, Dumornay claimed the competition's golden ball and also made the championship’s best XI. The golden boot for top scorer was won in the under-20 edition in 2020, while Dumornay again made the best XI, this time in the senior championship in 2022 where she was also named best young player.
The midfielder also helped Haiti become the first-ever Caribbean nation to qualify for the U20 World Cup and will no doubt be at the forefront of Haiti’s challenge for a first FIFA Women’s World Cup place via a play-off tournament taking place in New Zealand from February 18-23.
Competing against nine other teams for one of three remaining Australia and New Zealand 2023 World Cup berths, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Cameroon, Senegal, Panama, Paraguay, Chile, Papua New Guinea and Portugal join Haiti in the mix for the hallowed place, with all hoping to make it to the highly anticipated tournament taking place from 20 July to 20 August.
Click Image to watch Melchie Dumornay striking a Goal
