Dominican Republic Bans Haiti National Team from Stadiums Following Fan Clashes and Political Tensions

Groups of fans forced through entrances, damaging a gate at the teams’ CONCACAF Nations League match in Santo Domingo.

Published On 3 Oct 20263 Oct 2026

The Dominican Republic has banned Haiti’s national football team from playing at its sports venues following crowd trouble during a recent CONCACAF Nations League match between the two island neighbors.

Sports Minister Kelvin Cruz announced the ban after incidents prior to the match on Thursday night at the entrances to the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium in Santo Domingo.

Videos posted on social media showed groups of fans forcing their way through some entrances, resulting in damage to one of the gates.

“What we saw yesterday with a gate at the Felix Sanchez, a sports facility that has cost millions and millions of pesos to make it shine, is unacceptable,” Cruz stated, emphasizing a zero-tolerance policy on indiscipline.

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader backed the decision, saying: “The position of the Sports Minister is the position of the Government.”

Haiti’s embassy in Santo Domingo remarked that the comments were made “in the heat of competition and the intensity characteristic of sporting events,” and did not reflect the position of the Haitian government, while thanking Dominican authorities for hosting the event.

“Sporting rivalries must not call into question relations of good neighborliness and mutual respect that must prevail between the two states,” the embassy said in a statement.

In a post on X after the match, the federation called it a “beautiful night for Haiti, beautiful night for the island we share”, adding: “On the field, competition; off the field, respect for the neighbor.”

Haiti won the match 4-1, with Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor scoring twice. The victory gave Haiti nine points in Group A, while the Dominican Republic remained on six points. Haiti is scheduled to play Costa Rica in San Jose on Sunday.

Isidor was filmed saying: “Hispaniola is Haiti.” Hispaniola is the Caribbean island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which have long clashed over migration and border security.

Dominican Football Federation president Jose Deschamps called Isidor’s remark “a lack of respect for national sovereignty” and said the federation would file a complaint with FIFA and CONCACAF.

Abinader’s government has stepped up deportations of undocumented Haitians since October 2024, when it pledged to deport up to 10,000 people a week.

Sport has been drawn into the neighbors’ disputes before.

In 2023, after Abinader shut the border in a dispute over a Haitian canal on the shared Massacre River, Haiti’s sports ministry ordered its football federation to stop staging national team matches in the Dominican Republic.

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