When GOAL first spoke to Melchie Dumornay, Haiti’s gifted teenager, she was still at home, soon to make the move to France to join talent factory Reims. As the interview came to a close, Dumornay, still only 17 years old at this point, outlined her ambitions for the future. Her first? To play for Lyon, the eight-time European champions, one day. Fast forward, two years and she’s set to tick that off her career bucket list, having joined the French giants this summer.
Her second aim was to win individual awards at the "next level", in order to "prove" herself. When the French league announced the winners of its annual awards in mid-May, as Dumornay's final season with Reims came to a close, the 19-year-old was named Best Young Player and also included in the Team of the Season, which featured just three names not representing Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain.
The final goal was quite different. “If God allows me to have a lot of success in the future, which translates into financial success, I want to be able to open a sort of academy back home in Haiti to provide opportunities to players in Haiti that I didn't have myself,” she explained, exuding maturity beyond her years.
“In Haiti, there are so many talents, not only in soccer, that just don't get a chance. I got that chance to be in an academy, but there are top players and top talents everywhere. It's important to try and put an eye on Haiti, to not miss out on so many talents. I hope that one day more people get the chance to get out of there.”
With her yet to celebrate her 20th birthday, it might take a little time for Dumornay to be able to box that one off. But she did something else to help Haiti this year - she scored the goal that sent her country to its first ever Women’s World Cup. It’s not an academy, but it’s a huge stage for many of her team-mates to make a name for themselves and prove, just as their talismanic teenager says, that there is a lot of talent in the Caribbean nation.
As Haiti prepare to make history at the tournament, pooled in Group D with England, Denmark and China, GOAL explains why Dumornay is so, so special…