Haiti’s first World Cup appearance in over 50 years lasted 90 minutes on the pitch. The fallout has lasted considerably longer.

More than 104,000 people have signed petitions on Change.org demanding that FIFA investigate the officiating during Haiti’s 0-1 loss to Scotland on June 13, a Group C opener played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. At least nine separate petitions have been launched, with the largest organized by James Fleurissaint from Paris. The central grievance: multiple penalty claims that went completely ignored by Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal.

What happened on the pitch

Scotland’s John McGinn scored the only goal of the match in the 28th minute, giving the Scots their first World Cup victory in 36 years.

Petitioners allege that at least two clear penalty situations were overlooked during the match. These include what organizers describe as an obvious handball and a reckless tackle inside the box, both of which went unpunished. The word “arbitrary” appears frequently in the petition language.

Before the match even kicked off, FIFA ordered Haiti to redesign their jersey, citing what it called political imagery on the kit.

The diaspora responds

The petition campaign has been driven largely by the Haitian diaspora, with organizing efforts spanning multiple countries. A Florida-based initiative run by L’Union Fait la Force has been among the most prominent, alongside Fleurissaint’s Paris-based campaign. The speed of the mobilization, surpassing 104,000 signatures within days of the match, speaks to both the depth of feeling and the organizational capacity of Haitian communities abroad.

For context, Haiti qualified for this World Cup through a grueling CONCACAF pathway, making their return to the tournament’s biggest stage for the first time since 1974. Scotland, meanwhile, hadn’t won a World Cup match since 1990.

The fan token angle

Scotland’s national team has an associated fan token, $SFA, which faced its first major test during a high-profile match. Haiti, by contrast, has no equivalent digital engagement infrastructure.

No direct market impact on $SFA or the broader fan token sector has been reported as a result of the petition campaign.