In January this year, West Ham United Academy midfielder Gabriel Caliste made history by becoming the first Mauritian player to sign a professional contract at a Premier League club.
Born and raised in Barking to Mauritian parents, Caliste is proud of his heritage, but the thought of representing his ancestral country had never crossed the 18-year-old’s mind until a happenstance message on social media.
“It came a bit out of the blue,” he said. “Both my parents are from Mauritius, but met here in England. As a family, we hadn't really thought about me representing Mauritius, because it's such a small island. We didn’t know too much about if they even had a national team. But then, a Mauritian agent based in France who helps out with the national team messaged me a little over a year ago.
“He was just wondering if I was interested in representing Mauritius. I wasn't too sure at first, because obviously, my focus was England. That's the dream. But speaking to the agent, he assured me that I’d be playing in the senior team. It was too good of an opportunity to turn down.
Part of our Academy U18s squad that won the Premier League Cup in April, Caliste made his debut for the African island nation in front of 20,000 fans in Hyderabad in India 13 months ago and the shirt he wore that day stands proudly in the Chadwell Heath Training Ground presentation room. Since then, international duty has seen him travel to Hong Kong, South Africa, Angola and, of course, Mauritius.
“I’ve had some incredible experiences so far,” he continued. “Playing against other men, FIFA World Cup qualifiers; it's quite a big personal achievement.
“Out of all of them, I think my debut stands out the most. It was a mini tournament against India and Syria. I’d never played in front of that many people. The India fans were so loud! I couldn’t hear myself or my teammates! The adrenaline it gives you is insane.”
More recently, during the September international break, Caliste made his competitive debut in a CAF World Cup qualifier, starting in a 2-0 home defeat to Group D leaders Cape Verde.
This afternoon, Caliste and Mauritius will play host to Cameroon at the Côte d’Or National Sports Complex. With Premier League stars Bryan Mbeumo and Carlos Baleba in the Cameroon ranks, it will be an invaluable development opportunity for our young Academy midfielder, who just four years ago, was playing for Billericay Town’s Academy as a schoolboy.
He smiled: “When I take a step back and reflect upon my journey, it's insane. I’m really looking forward to these qualifiers. It's going to be a huge test for myself to see how close I am to first-team football levels, playing against big names like that.”
With the FIFA World Cup expanding to 48 teams as of 2026, fairytale stories like Cape Verde [in Mauritius’ CAF World Cup qualifying group] on the verge of qualifying for the competition for the first time in their history, are set to become more frequent.
A small African island nation whose squad is largely made up of Portuguese expats, Cape Verde’s composition reflects that of Mauritius, who squad is mainly comprised of French expats. And with a few more years of development, Caliste’s dream of playing at a FIFA World Cup might not be as far-fetched as it once seemed.
“There’s not full-time football in Mauritius so it’s quite hard for us to develop as a squad, although we do have some good players. We have some players from the lower leagues in France. Our captain, Lindsay Rose, who plays in the Greek first division, was captain of the French U21s team, playing alongside the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Aymeric Laporte, Lucas Digne and even Alphonse Aréola.
“We've also got a few expats from Australia and I know of a few boys that have Mauritian heritage and could represent us internationally, so hopefully in a few years we can get a bit stronger and be in a better place to compete.”
After hosting Cameroon this afternoon at 2pm BST, Mauritius will then face Libya on 13 October at 5pm BST, bringing the curtain down on Caliste’s first CAF World Cup qualifying campaign. The first of many, hopefully.
