
The Dominican Republic banned Haiti's national football team from its sports venues following crowd disturbances at a CONCACAF Nations League match, with Sports Minister Kelvin Cruz citing a zero-tolerance policy after fans forced entrances and damaged a gate at Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium; President Luis Abinader supported the ban, while Haiti's embassy said the remarks did not reflect its government's position and emphasized mutual respect between the two nations.
AI-generated summary
The Dominican Republic and Haiti share the island of Hispaniola and have long-standing disputes over migration, border security, and resource use, including a 2023 border shutdown by the Dominican Republic over a Haitian canal project on the Massacre River, which led Haiti to halt hosting national team matches in the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic has banned Haitiās national football team from playing at its sports venues after crowd trouble at a CONCACAF Nations League match between the two island neighbours.
Sports Minister Kelvin Cruz announced the ban after incidents before the match on Thursday night at the entrances to the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium in Santo Domingo.
Video posted on social media showed groups of fans forcing some entrances, with one gate damaged.
āWhat 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,ā Cruz said, citing a zero-tolerance policy on indiscipline.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader backed the decision, saying: āThe position of the Sports Minister is the position of the Government.ā
Haitiās ā embassy in Santo Domingo said the remarks, made āin the heat of competition and the intensity characteristic of sporting eventsā, did not reflect the position of ā the Haitian government and thanked Dominican authorities for the event.
āSporting ā rivalries must not call into question relations of good neighborliness and mutual respect that must prevail between the two states,ā the embassy said in a statement.
In a post on X after the match, the federation called it a ābeautiful night for Haiti, beautiful night for the island we shareā, adding: āOn the field, competition; off the field, respect for the neighbor.ā
Haiti won the match 4-1, with Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor scoring twice. The win gave Haiti nine points in Group A, while the Dominican Republic remained on six points. Haiti play Costa Rica in San Jose on Sunday.
Isidor was filmed saying: āHispaniola is Haiti.ā 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 Isidorās remark āa lack of respect for national sovereigntyā and said the federation would file a complaint with FIFA and CONCACAF.
Abinaderās 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 neighboursā disputes before.
In 2023, after Abinader shut the border in a dispute over a Haitian canal on the shared Massacre River, Haitiās sports ministry ordered its football federation to stop staging national team matches in the Dominican Republic.
AI outlook ā possibilities, not facts
The Dominican Football Federation will file a formal complaint with FIFA and CONCACAF regarding Wilson Isidor's comment.
Very likely Ā· Within days
Haiti will play its next match against Costa Rica in San Jose as scheduled.
Very likely Ā· Within days

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